Costa Rica Marks Earth Day With a Reputation to Defend
As the world observes Earth Day today, Costa Rica finds itself in familiar territory: held up once again as a global example of what environmental ambition can look like in practice, while dealing with the real-world pressures that test that reputation year after year. The 2026 theme chosen by earthday.org — “Our Power, Our Planet” — emphasizes that environmental progress is sustained by the daily actions of communities, educators, workers, and families rather than by any single policy cycle. It is a message that lands naturally here. Costa Rica abolished its army in 1948 and redirected public spending toward health, education, and the environment, a decision that has underpinned decades of conservation work and made the country roughly the size of West Virginia a reference point for sustainable development far larger than its footprint. That reputation rests on hard numbers. The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad reported earlier this year that Costa Rica closed 2025 genera...