Lessons from Costa Rica

A must read article for Sri Lankans (and others).

Some Excerpts

If growth is a substitute for redistribution, then redistribution can be a substitute for growth.

If we want to have any hope of averting catastrophe, we’re going to have to do something about our addiction to growth. This is tricky, because GDP growth is the main policy objective of virtually every government on the planet.

In fact, the part of Costa Rica where people live the longest, happiest lives – the Nicoya Peninsula – is also the poorest, in terms of GDP per capita. Researchers have concluded that Nicoyans do so well not in spite of their “poverty”, but because of it – because their communities, environment and relationships haven’t been ploughed over by industrial expansion.

With a life expectancy of 79.1 years and levels of wellbeing in the top 7% of the world, Costa Rica matches many Scandinavian nations in these areas and neatly outperforms the United States. And it manages all of this with a GDP per capita of only $10,000 (£7,640), less than one fifth that of the US.

argue that it’s all down to Costa Rica’s commitment to universalism: the principle that everyone – regardless of income – should have equal access to generous, high-quality social services as a basic right. A series of progressive governments started rolling out healthcare, education and social security in the 1940s and expanded these to the whole population from the 50s onward, after abolishing the military and freeing up more resources for social spending.

https://www.theguardian.com/working-in-development/2017/oct/07/how-to-avert-the-apocalypse-take-lessons-from-costa-rica

The All Girl Tuk Tuk Team

The All Girl tuk tuk team on the way to Jaffna, thru Wilpattu National Park, with a stopover here at Wilpattu House.

Therese (Austria), Monika (Poland) and Nadja (Germany) about to leave for Jafna.

 Out Swimming at the nearby Lunu Ela

Using Phone GPS data and Importing into Google Maps

Smartphones all come with a GPS locator. This post will walk you thru the basic steps of getting GPS Lat Long Coordinates  from your phone and then importing the data into a Google My Maps. IMPORTANT: you need a google/gmail account and you should be logged in to use Google My Maps.

You can use this info to create markers, measure distance in My Google Maps. This is a link to the example custom map in Google My Map.

Getting the GPS Coordinates.

1) Turn on the GPS on your phone. Remember to turn it off once you have done taking your measurements. GPS uses up battery and data.

2)You can use Google maps on your phone (iPhone or Android). However, In Sri Lanka in most places the Data Connection is too slow to use Google Maps to get GPS Latitude, Longitude coordinates. So use an App

• Android : GPS Coordinates (Free)
• iPhone: Compass

3) email the Lat, Lon coordinate measurements to yourself

Setting up the Data to be Imported in the Map. 

Preferable done on a computer. larger screen is easier to work with.

1) Open email/emails, copy and paste the Lat,Long in a CSV (Comma Separated Values).
    I use notepad (or any basic text editor).

2) Your file/data should look like this. 

    Latitude, Longitude,Location
    8.2684256, 79.86844306, Cadju Tree
    8.26704793, 79.86826721, Entrance Cabin Veranda

3) Save the file as SomeName.csv

Importing the Data into a Map

a) Open https://www.google.com/maps/d/ and create a new maps

2) On left hand side, under Untitled Layer, click on Import3) When the Choose a File to Import dialog appears, Click on Select a file from your Computer

4) Wait a few seconds while the data loads.

Voila, your basic map has been created.

Setting up the Base Map

Base Map is the view, background you want for your map, Satellite, Terrain or Map

1) On Left side, Menu bottom you will see Base Map.

    Click On pull down Menu, left of Base Map.

2) I have set my map to Satellite View

 

 

 Setting Default View

1) On Left side, Menu, toward right will see three Vertical Dots
    Click on the Dots to get Pull Down Menu

2) Click on Set Default View

 

 

 

Customizing the Map

You can change Icons, Colors of the feature that you added 

a) Click on any of the features that you added

b) Click on Style (paint button icon)
    Change color and Icons

 

 

Sharing your Map

a) In Top left memu, Click on Share

b) Set sharing type, Public or Private

c) Copy URL to share yuur map with others.