kalu yala
Northwestern University
In the Panamanian jungle, one community is using black soldier flies to eliminate food waste of all kinds. See how meat, dairy, and even bones are rapidly decomposed by specialized larvae. Kira Fahmy reports for Medill.
Tara McLaughlin, president of Kalu Yala Institute, speaks about her background doing volunteer work abroad and current efforts of Kalu Yala to increase integration with San Miguel. (Abigail Foerstner/Medill)
Northwestern University
Real estate entrepreneur Jimmy Stice hopes to build small, sustainable houses in Kalu Yala, the jungle retreat, eco-town, and host to an institute for college interns he founded in the Panamanian rainforest. Medill's Leah Dunlevy reports.
Biology student Selah Phillips collects algae at the Pacora River. She hopes the oil she has extracted from the algae can be processed into sustainable biodiesel. (Maddie Burakoff/Medill)
Northwestern University
Maddie Burakoff of Medill reports that at eco-institute Kalu Yala, researchers seek out environmental solutions in the midst of one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, but grapple with sustaining their own progress.
Kalu Yala agriculture director Zoe St. John discusses the food they are growing to feed the community. (Colin Boyle/Medill)
Northwestern University
Kalu Yala is host to small scale agroforestry in the Panamanian jungle — rows of alternating crops integrated with the natural environment, an image of the symbiosis that can exist between humans and the environment. Grace Wade reports for Medill.
Northwestern University
Abelardo “Tito” Nuñez Davies first came to Pelican Island 15 years ago. It was much larger then. The small hut he and his mother share started out in the middle of this tiny oasis of sand. Now, the ocean laps at their doorstep.
Northwestern University
The indigenous Guna people of Panama prepare to leave the islands they call home due to rising sea levels, while entrepreneur Jimmy Stice builds a sustainable town in the jungle of Panama. Elizabeth Guthrie of Medill reports.
Traveling on boats is the main mode of transportation between islands of Guna Yala, and most are operated by local Guna people. (Luodan Rojas/Medill)
Northwestern University
Separated by miles of ocean and a 2-hour drive, or a 50-mile hike, through the jungle, Guna Yala and Kalu Yala are two of Panama’s most sustainable communities, but they also are starkly different. Medill's Luodan Rojas reports.
The starting point of the hiking trip was at Kalu Yala - a sustainable community in the
Panamanian jungle. (Grace Wade/Medill)
Northwestern University
Fifty miles over four days. Seven hikers left Kalu Yala, a sustainable eco-town in the Panamanian jungle, to trek to the Caribbean Sea and quickly discovered an untested trail and faced other challenges head-on. Medill's Nadine Daher reports.
Zoe St. John gives Northwestern University students a farm tour. (Colin Boyle/Medill)
Northwestern University
Medill's Nadine Daher reports that residents and interns at Kalu Yala are working on adding hiking trails around the community to the AllTrails app, which allows you to use your phone as an offline GPS tracker.
Northwestern University
Medill's Colin Boyle covers how Kalu Yala staff and media interns coped with the hard-hitting docu-series while still working sustainably in a Panamanian jungle.