A Pandemic Journey in Biodiversity

A Letter from Karla Koll, serving in Costa Rica

Spring 2022

Subscribe to my co-worker letters

Dear friends,

It started with a decision to get up from my computer at least once a day to photograph something in the garden of the house where we are fortunate enough to be spending the pandemic. At the Latin American Biblical University (UBL), tasks multiplied as we moved all our classes online, and more people signed up to study theology. Yet, at the same time, there was nothing we could do to change what was happening to so many.

Most days, I had no words to share, but I could share a bit of beauty amid the news of illness and death filling my Facebook feed. Soon people near and far wrote to tell me how they looked forward to my posts each day. My decision became a daily discipline, the sharing of a blessing.

Along the way, I switched to a better camera. An online course helped me learn how to improve my photographs. I found a camera store here in San Jose where I acquired two additional lenses (and supported a local business). I was no longer just taking pictures; I had become, to my surprise, an amateur photographer.

As the months went by, my focus changed. I became intentional about documenting the biodiversity in this garden. Over two years, more than fifty species of birds, dozens of insects, as well as many other creatures and plants have passed before my camera. Even after 24 months of taking photos, most days, I find a new species to photograph.

Here in Costa Rica, as around the world, biodiversity is decreasing. The sixth assessment recently released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) affirms that climate change produced by human activity is driving the disappearance of many species as ecosystems deteriorate. Industrialized agriculture is part of the problem. Folks who live near the pineapple plantations in the Caribbean region of the country report that the pollinators have disappeared, as have fish from the rivers.

At the UBL, planetary life is one of the central themes of our theological work. We have incorporated ecological topics into many of our courses, from biblical interpretation to homiletics to mission. Our green team produces liturgical materials that we share on social media. We are working to make our campus a model of urban ecological sustainability.

Though our students connect with the UBL online, we also encourage them to connect with the ecosystem in which they live. In a recent online climate justice conversation about the environmental damage from mining in the Andes, student Elizabeth Arbe shared about her work as the pastor of a church in a mining community. Our students and their communities are already experiencing the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss.

More than fifty years ago, Baba Dioum, an environmentalist from Senegal, warned that we would not be able to save places that we do not love, yet we cannot love places we do not know. We live out our faith in God as creator and our love for God’s creations in the particular ecosystem where each of us is located. My camera has allowed me to get to know this particular piece of God’s creation I inhabit in new ways. I hope and pray that my photographs not only allow others to enjoy a bit of the biodiversity here in Costa Rica but also inspire folks to explore the biodiversity where they live and to work to preserve it.

I am so grateful for the connections expressed in prayer and financial gifts that make it possible for me to serve here at the UBL on behalf of Presbyterian World Mission. Thank you for your support and for sharing this journey with me. I hope that my colleagues and I can count on your continuing support.

In creation joy,

Karla