For Sustainable Development Nerds and Insomniacs

I'm no longer in Guatemala or even Central America, so I'll keep this short. If you are interested in alternative financial services provision in rural agricultural communities, or are simply having trouble falling asleep, my Master's Paper is now available online here. Thanks to everyone who has read my blog over the past eight months! It's been surprisingly fun writing this blog, but I'm going to end it here--somehow "Emily in Suburban California" just doesn't sound quite as interesting. By the way, if anyone has a job lying around that they would like to give me, please let me know! I'm going to close out this blog with the best quote I've found on the true meaning of sustainable development.

"The startling truth is that our best efforts for civil rights, international peace, population control, conservation of natural resources, and assistance to the starving of the earth--urgent as they are--will destroy rather than help if made in the present spirit. For, as things stand, we have nothing to give. If our own riches and our own way of life are not enjoyed here, they will not be enjoyed anywhere else. Certainly they will supply the immediate jolt of energy and hope that methedrine, and similar drugs, give in extreme fatigue. But peace can be made only by those who are peaceful, and love can be shown only by those who love. No work of love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now."

-Alan Watts