Our first two days in the capital city of Quito set the stage as we launched our exploration of the Ecuadorian economy using a triple-bottom line:
- Profit: Is it productive, efficient, effective, profitable?
- People: Is it just, fair, beneficial, dignified for the people involved?
- Planet: Does it conserve, protect, restore, regenerate the earth and its ecosystems?
The program included a variety of tours and presentations:
- Visit to the Money Museum (Museo Numismático)
- Tour of La Compañia Cathedral
- Powerpoint presentation by economist Pablo Lucio Paredes (Dean of the School of Economics at San Francisco University)
- “The Rights of Nature in Ecuador” by Dr. Rene Bedon (Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Hemispheres)
- “The Amazon: Indigenous Peoples and Extractive Industries” by Carlos Mazabanda (Amazon Watch)
- Tour of the Mindalae Museum
- Cleansing ceremony by a traditional highland Kichwa healer, or Jambi, named Andres
- Quitucara music and dance performance
