To start his day on campus, VP @ottosonnenh met the @Penn Galápagos team, co-directed by Faculty Fellow @weisbergm. He heard from team leads - inc Galápagos guide Ernesto Vaca - about their work supporting the islands’ communities to conserve their unique environment. @Vice_Ec 
Next up, he met with faculty and students from @LALS_UPENN. This is an interdisciplinary program that studies Latin America and Latinx communities, and explores cultural, economic, historical, and social forces that are shaping the Americas. @Vice_Ec
It’s a full house for @ottosonnenh as he speaks about major issues facing Ecuador and the world, from sustainability to migration. Follow us for live updates 👇
“You cannot speak about climate change and environment without thinking of Humboldt. He determined that water temperature affected the land, the idea that biodiversity changes with altitude and humidity. He saw all this on a journey of only 60 miles through Ecuador.” @Vice_Ec
“Simon Bolivar always said he was inspired by Humboldt, - he felt he was the person who truly discovered America, who found the value of our biodiversity. Humboldt gave him the self esteem he needed to achieve freedom for our region. That’s the power of biodiversity.”
“My wife often says - You cannot love what you don’t know, and you can’t take care of what you don’t love. So we have to get to know what we have in Ecuador, so we can care for and protect it.” @Vice_Ec
“We have to find ways to make development sustainable. It has to have three key elements:
1. Make economic sense;
2. Respect the environment;
3. Positive social impact.” @ottosonnenh @Vice_Ec
1. Make economic sense;
2. Respect the environment;
3. Positive social impact.” @ottosonnenh @Vice_Ec
“It’s also helping people understand how they can reduce their impact on the fragile environment in Galápagos, and thinking about the health of the people who live there. You can’t take care of your environment if you don’t take care of yourself.” @Vice_Ec
“Let’s think about the rainforest in Ecuador. People living there have always been affected by the exploitation of natural resources. We have to find the least invasive and most sustainable technologies - because any human activity has an environmental impact.” @Vice_Ec
“Every day we have to ask ourselves how we reduce our impact. We’re taking small steps that make huge changes, like banning plastic in Galápagos. To come back to Humboldt and his theory of unity of nature, everything is connected. Everything you do has an impact elsewhere.”
“We would not have Darwin without Humboldt. And what’s the lesson of Darwin today? That if we don’t evolve, we die. That’s the message I leave to you to think about and reflect on. Universities and young people are here to question things, and suggest new ideas.” @Vice_Ec
We’re moving on to a conversation with @PennSAS’s @weisbergm, who leads Penn Galápagos Team. “You picked up how important education is to our work. One of the challenges we’ve encountered in Ecuador is that students don’t always ask questions, and teachers don’t encourage it.”
“For many years, people thought education was indoctrination. Indoctrination is training, and training is for dogs. To truly learn you have to think critically and ask questions. That’s education.” @Vice_Ec
Asked about challenges of migration, @ottosonnenh says: “What Venezuela is going through is terrible. Over 6 million have left in the last two years, it’s bigger than Syria. All other countries in the region are affected. But it doesn’t help to blame problems on migration.”
On recent protests about withdrawal of fuel subsidies: “We had severe protests and we had to revoke that decision. I went to visit the communities these protests originated in, even though I was warned not to. I tried to put myself in their shoes.” @Vice_Ec
“We had found that most of the people who benefited from subsidies were better off. A country that has so many needs can not afford to spend money subsidizing people like me. It made no social, economic or environmental sense.” @Vice_Ec
“I spoke with people and let them unload their worries. I told them, subsidies have cost us the equivalent of our GDP - have any of you overcome poverty because of them? The answer was no. The enemy is poverty. We need to invest in development for rural communities.” @Vice_Ec
“Fake news was an issue - people were convinced that govt money was being given to migrants instead of them. Disinformation was disguised as news - it’s a story that appeals to your opinions, and is shared with you on social media by people you trust - your mom, your brother.”
“A sensitive issue like migration shouldn’t be played with like that - it could become much more complicated very quickly. Almost all of us in America are migrants, we need to remember that.”
On Julian Assange’s asylum being withdrawn by Ecuador, VP Sonnenholzner says: “He said he was in fear of his life, but UK law does not allow you to be extradited to a country for a crime where you could face the death penalty. President Moreno confirmed that with the UK first.”
Asked by audience about river pollution in Ecuador, he says: “The main cause is a lack of basic infrastructure in cities. Politicians shy away from these projects because they’re disruptive and not visible. But while people may not see these systems, they’ll feel the benefit.”
Asked about shared challenges for developing countries: “Developing countries need a different approach to climate change because we lack infrastructure. Worldwide financing for that kind of infrastructure needs to be available. Fake news is my biggest worry.” @Vice_Ec
“We need to teach people how to differentiate information, and traditional media has a role here - credibility is our most important asset in communication. At the moment we have issues with disinformation about coronavirus, and we need to combat that.”
Asked about keeping the tourism industry in Galápagos sustainable, VP Sonnenholzner says: “We need to control who enters, so we must increase the cost for both Ecuadorians and foreign tourists to enter. We had 250,000 visitors last year, and that’s too much.” @Vice_Ec
On developing a global carbon credit system: “Ecuador is keeping its land pristine and not exploiting its resources, when that’s something other countries have benefited from. We’re keeping the world’s lungs safe for everyone else, and we need to find a balance for our economy.”
On diversification of the Ecuadorian economy away from oil: “We want other parts of our economy to grow - tourism, agricultural exports. I hope after this talk, everyone is excited to visit!”
On agricultural exports: “I think agriculture, properly done, can be a great way to develop. We compete with other exporting countries by differentiating our products with their quality & sustainability. If you want healthy, quality produce, you have to be prepared to pay more.”
On Venezuela: “Politicians should not promote xenophobia. Colombia now has over 2M migrants. Their president is not bringing in border controls - he wants to know who is coming in. We’re following that too. Only solution is Venezuela changing, but I don’t see that happening.”
Thanks for following our coverage of @ottosonnenh’s great event! 🇪🇨@Vice_Ec
To finish his day on campus with us, VP @ottosonnenh recorded an episode of our podcast, The Global Cable, with @johngansjr, and met with undergraduate and graduate students from across @Penn. @Vice_Ec
