PROFILE OF KAREN EMANUEL BY FRANCES FIGART

Since she was a child, Karen Emanuel has always wanted to grow up and have a job she loved so much it didn’t feel like work. She succeeded. She owns Jicaro Island Ecolodge.

Born and raised in London, England, Karen received a degree in genetics from Leeds University. She worked for a short while at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in the Genetics department but very quickly learned that staring into test tubes and Petri dishes wasn't adventurous or entrepreneurial enough for her. In 1990, she developed Key Production Ltd., which supplies CDs, DVDs, print and packaging to music, media and business markets throughout Europe. She also created Decadent Properties Ltd., a small real estate company in London.

And, as if she wasn’t already enterprising enough, she opened Jicaro Island Ecolodge in December 2009. The seed of the concept had been planted three years earlier when Karen was vacationing in Nicaragua and one day happened into a restaurant and saw a notice proclaiming "Island for Sale.” This sparked her imagination, partly as a fantasy, but also because she recognized that Nicaragua was a developing Central American country with a lot to offer the tourism industry. After an inspiring boat ride with the island’s owners, followed by a relaxing week at an exemplary ecolodge on the Nicaraguan coast, the idea that would eventually become Jicaro began to take shape.

Arriving back home to the bleak London winter, Karen scribbled down a few figures on the back of an envelope and within a few weeks she had bought herself an island. Two years later, with the help of architect Matthew Falkiner and team from Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality, the dream began to develop into a reality. Since its opening, Jicaro Island Ecolodge has hired a staff of local Nicaraguan people and its inaugural guests have had nothing but overwhelmingly positive responses.

“I feel proud of what I have achieved and delighted at their experiences,” she said. “It makes me very happy to see other people de-stress, relax and enjoy what I have created. It’s also extremely satisfying to see the development of an amazing set of employees.”

She says working with Cayuga Sustainable Hospitality has been an amazing experience. “They are the experts. They understand what I want and how to make it happen. And we share the philosophy: Take only photos; leave only footprints; try to do something to help preserve this amazing world we live in.”

Karen is the author of a blog about the ups and downs of building an ecolodge on an island in a lake in Nicaragua.

In the photo: Karen Emanuel and General Manager Howard Coulson from Nicaragua at Jicaro Island.

MAKING THE CONSERVATION CONNECTION

Azalea Cristobal recently shared the following communication with Glenn Jampol, who owns and manages Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation and Inn near San José, Costa Rica. She met Glenn and his wife Terri for dinner at Arenas del Mar Beach and Nature Resort during a recent stay in Manuel Antonio.
Our Costa Rica trip was probably the most interesting trip I've taken. Even before the trip, (my friend) Sarita had been telling me how amazed she was about how successful Costa Rica is at protecting the environment. The whole trip I kept wondering why it was that they cared and we didn’t, why they are successful and we’re not.

Before the whitewater rafting trip, our guide took us through a little trail where they had lemongrass, mint, lemons, vanilla and cinnamon planted. He let us touch and smell them. He took a piece of the cinnamon bark and told us to bite it without telling us what it was until after we tried it; that realization that that bark tasted like cinnamon and was indeed cinnamon was super interesting to me.

I think this experience is what we are lacking in the U.S. and that’s why we aren’t successful. That connection to the earth is missing. When I think of cinnamon, I don’t think of that tree, I think of the stick I buy at the store. When I think of vanilla, I think of the bottle of vanilla extract I have in my cabinet, not the plant. I don’t believe this is ignorance; I knew vanilla came from a plant. But until I saw it, smelled it and touched it, that connection that vanilla comes from a plant was missing. I think a lot of conservation programs are missing this basic step. They assume people know; they assume this connection is there. You can’t assume that a person who’s bought milk from the store their whole life is going to care about the cow they’ve never seen. They tell you ‘be green, save water, don’t litter.’ But until you make that connection that a tomato comes from a plant and not the supermarket, you’re not going to understand the need to protect the environment.

The people of Costa Rica understand this. They know if they don’t take care of the environment, that vanilla plant in their backyard is going to die and they won’t have vanilla. I think it would be interesting to start a program where kids can have this kind of connection with the earth, where they can go to a farm and touch the plant/tree, its flowers, its fruits and understand the whole cycle. Then once that connection is there, couple that with ways to be green. This would be more successful than just telling them ‘don’t litter.’ I know this sounds very basic but I truly feel like this is what we are missing.

I looked into farms that people can visit in South Florida and I came across The Little Farm. The owner says that, “Kids have no idea. When I ask them where milk comes from, notoriously, someone will answer ‘the man at Publix or Winn-Dixie.’ ” This is exactly what I thought. I think it’s like Confucius said, “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand.” Until we get the kids involved, they’re not going to understand the need for conservation.