5 OPINION Thursday, June 20, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com 5 OPINION I n Costa Rica, there is a relaxed pace in both wild life and human nature. It is a place to truly take in the untouched world around you. When I visit, my favorite spots to explore are the empty miles of coast line, water- falls or jungle pathways. Beaches are stripped away of human presence and footprints through the circuitous cycle of washing waves. To experience Costa Rica is to understand the beauty and importance of a place that values the natural world. This reverence for the earth can only be accomplished through the attention of people and the prevention of immense destruc- tion that is relatively easy for humans to impose upon the natural world. I have read about the vast envi- ronmental programs that the Costa Rican government wants to imple- ment, and it is inspiring for the rest of the world. It plans to become a plastic-free and carbon-free country through policy work and environ- mental determination. There have been a few conflict- ing prediction dates on when it will all come together, but they are cur- rently working on steps to reach a carbon-neutral state. Costa Rica is already one of the leading countries in renewable energy. Its renewable energy sources provide the country with about 99 percent of its energy needs. This dedication to sustainable energy resources allows the country to uphold its conservation efforts. Through the environmental plan, Costa Rica projects that it will get to a point of “zero net emissions.” This means that its conservation efforts, such as reforesting and managing land correctly, will offset the amount of emissions being produced. This balancing act means that the country is limiting carbon emissions as well as taking a proactive role in the man- agement of its expansive rainforests and beaches. In addition to its carbon-neutral advancements, the nation announced its plans to become completely plastic free by 2021. This would make it the first country to complete such a task. The country as a whole is working to replace plastics with biodegradable or sustainable alternatives in order to reduce the harmful impact of plas- tics in landfills and oceans. While visiting Costa Rica, I saw this reduc- tion of plastic across several fields. I noticed national advertisements for alternatives, as well as local efforts to reduce waste. Handmade post- ers decorated the walls of cafés that promoted a plastic free environment. Coffee shops only provided composta- ble materials and cardboard straws. Family-run souvenir shops skipped plastic bags and posted up phrases like “Do you really need a bag? Say NO to plastic bags.” It was a hopeful sight to see that the Costa Rican people really supported the country’s push for environmental change. This under- scores that community level passion is instrumental in fueling the drive for governmental and nation-wide policy. Some skeptics have explained that these ambitious plans will be too dif- ficult to achieve by 2021. In an article from Vox, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, the country’s minister of environ- ment and energy, explained that “some people have misunderstood the President’s declarations because we don’t plan to ban the use of fos- sil fuels, we plan to phase them out through new policies and incentives so that eventually, down the road, they will be useless.” It is clear that this will not be a one-step process of simply banning everything that stands in the way of environmental purity. Most of the country’s emissions come from the transportation sector, which is reportedly one of the hard- est areas to decarbonize quickly. The high demand for transportation and private ownership could be due to the expansive lands and distance between cities. In addition to the large territory, I noticed that most roads wind through jungles and mountains, which seemingly makes it even more difficult and slow to travel by car. These long distances ultimately create a higher need for gas and thus higher rates of emis- sions. The government’s fix for this is to incentivize cleaner options such as electric cars in order to reduce the carbon footprint in the transporta- tion front. From international news to local observations, it is clear that this Central American country is trying to raise awareness and care for the beautiful environment it calls home. Though some of the government’s claims are difficult to achieve with- out some large overhauls of emissions and product usage, the mere fact that it is instigating these changes is quite revolutionary. Costa Rica is looking to be the first country to achieve its goals and set policies and passion for the betterment of its people’s future. I only hope that the rest of the world looks to its intelligence and vigor in its strive for a sustainable nation and seeks to follow suit. Costa Rican environmental policy is pura vida ANNE ELSE | COLUMN Anne Else can be reached at aelse@umich.edu. AKAASH TUMULURI | COLUMN T he Met, MoMA, the DIA, even our very own UMMA: There’s one thing these so-called “high art” institutions have in common — the art is usually displayed on white walls. This is done intentionally to avoid distraction, to create a void-like space in which you can experience the art while expelling your prior biases, so you may receive each piece of art with a more open mind. Those in charge of the walls can’t seem to be influenced by their own design, however, as the problem with these white walls is that most of the art that adorns them is, in fact, white — and male. And there, again, we see the same story played on repeat, even in a world that supposedly prides itself on progressive open- mindedness and being ahead of the curve. A recent study done by a group of professors looked at 18 major American art institu- tions — including the Met, the Art Institute of Chicago and the DIA — and found 85 percent of the artists represented at these institutions were white. 87 per- cent were male. Compared to the U.S. Census data — which shows only 60.7 percent of the Ameri- can population self-identify as “white alone, not Hispanic or Latino” and 49.2 percent identify as male — those raw numbers are appalling. This same study found 60 percent of museum staff are women, though they only compose 43 percent of those in leadership or directorial roles. 72 percent of museum staff are white. The argument to this is that many of these museums include, and in some cases, prioritize his- torical collections, and American museums are inclined toward procuring European historical art, which was generally made by white, male artists. And this was a time when women and people of color were marginalized from the art community. Let’s set aside the idea that prioritizing said Euro- pean art encourages a limited view of history that legitimizes outdated Western ideals of race and gender power dynamics. Let’s instead take a look at the galleries that feature work from contemporary artists — post- enlightenment era work that one would expect to be more open and representative — and we find that it isn’t. A study looking at the top 45 galleries in New York City found 78.4 percent of the artists represented by these gal- leries were white, 85.4 percent of the American artists were white and 70 percent of all artists were male. This is a problem that per- sists. The confusing bit is that most art schools are, in fact, more diverse and female-dominated than this. Of the 125 students studying at the Yale School of Art, 70 are women — that’s 56 percent. Our own School of Art and Design claims the “majority of our undergraduate students self-identify as women, a trend observed nationally and glob- ally in schools of art & design.” Stamps also reported that 27.7 percent of its students identi- fied as part of a minority group, which, while still notably white, is not over 80 percent white, and is continuing to trend up. Both the study on U.S. Muse- ums and NYC galleries were done through crowdsourcing — taking starting points of data, such as gallery rosters or exhibi- tion artist lists, and asking mem- bers of the community to fill out the demographic information to the best of their knowledge. Now, this may seem like an unreliable method for procur- ing data, but that is not a reason to dismiss these studies. First, the numbers of both studies have been updated upon both of their releases, after having been scru- tinized by the public and cor- rected for errors. Second, this represents at least a glimmer of data in an arena in which little to no demographic data is available. You can’t fix a problem you don’t know exists. So how do we fix this? It starts at the top. Gallery owners and exhibition curators need to make a point of procuring work from people of color and women. While many art students are a part of these minority groups, they — rightfully so — may not feel they are able to “make it” in the gallery art world and there- fore decide to pursue differ- ent avenues with their degrees. Buying art from more margin- alized communities emboldens those, with or without a degree, to realize their art can be on those white walls too. Art needs to be prioritized as a part of early education, which is, sadly, negatively trending with more and more art programs being cut in underprivileged commu- nities — areas that are generally the most diverse. Galleries and museums are slowly beginning to shake this antiquated representation, but it’s not happening anywhere near quickly enough. White walls are starting to feel con- stricting, archaic, monotonous. So, hell, let’s paint the walls black, brown, pink or whatever color you’d like. It’s not quite the subtlety you think of in “high art,” but I’m over subtle. Those white walls could use a splash of color. White art on white walls CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and op-eds. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while op-eds should be 550 to 850 words. Send the writer’s full name and University affiliation to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. You can’t fix a problem you don’t know exists Akaash Tumuluri can be reached at tumula@umich.edu.