What did Christopher Columbus see when he discovered Dominica?

Ask any of the 21 Miami University students and faculty members who visited there over spring break and they will describe a lush, rugged, mountainous Caribbean island covered in dense rainforests.

"A joke about Dominica is that it's the one place that Columbus visited that he would still recognize today, which means it is less changed with fewer trees cut and less modern development," said geography professor Thomas Klak, who developed the course called "Sustainable Development and Ecotourism in the Eastern Caribbean."

The group spent 12 days in Dominica, called the Nature Isle of the Caribbean. The group explored the culture, priorities and interest of different groups such as local farmers and the Kalinago, a Native American population in Dominica. The group also studied the effects of ecotourism, renewable energy and explored the island's landscape.

According to Klak, ecotourism is a way to support villages and farmers instead of major corporations the way mass tourism does.

"Ecotourism is a term that is used broadly to refer to activities that are in nature that are small scale, community oriented and that are respectful of culture and differences," Klak said.

Co-sponsored by Miami's Geography department and the Wilks Leadership Institute, Klak said the course also deals with international civic engagement, which takes the concept of service learning and applies it abroad.

"We work with partners in Dominica to achieve mutual goals such as strengthening schools, building educational relationships where we mutually teach each other, working with local farmers and ecotourism participants so that we can create something bigger than what just one side could create," Klak said.

Miami junior Kevin McLaughlin said the group stayed at three eco-lodges and spent two nights with host families as a form of "participatory tourism."

"It was a really cool way learn about what another country is doing to sustain itself and live in such a way that preserves the environment instead of exploiting it or destroying it," McLaughlin said.

He said the trip reinforced the idea of preserving the environment and living locally.

"There are a lot of small, organic farmers that work so hard (to preserve the environment)," he said. "They can very easily use pesticides and fertilizers, but they understand that that would ruin the environment, ruin the soil and run down into the water."

He said the ability to drink directly out of several of Dominica's 365 rivers supported that idea.

According to McLaughlin, the people of Dominica see nature as a gift and work to preserve it and not be wasteful. While wealth is generally associated with money in the U.S., he said Dominicans are wealthy because of values of community, togetherness and love.

"They think having each other is a beautiful blessing and having whatever they have is a blessing and they strive to make the most of it," McLaughlin said. "Those are great lessons for us to bring back here and work harder in that way."

The group also spent time in Giraudel, a small, remote village, which Klak said was most memorable about the trip. There, the group learned from community organizers about how they formed a non-governmental organization, identified their assets and created income from flower cultivation and sales.

"That was inspiring to me because it showed where places that seemed like they didn't have a strong sense of community can organize themselves and do a lot from what seems to be very little," Klak said. "It can be a useful lesson to take back to Ohio to utilize our assets and nature resources without depleting them."

For McLaughlin, the most memorable experience of the trip was talking to an organic farmer on Easter Sunday. The farmer explained to the group that everything he owned and everything they saw around them is a gift from God.

"This was the first Easter I hadn't been to church in my entire life, so for me, I couldn't have asked for a better church-like experience than this man giving all his thanks to God for this beautiful nature that he was given," McLaughlin said.

Klak said he hopes the course gives participants a deeper understanding of how to live sustainably and encourage them to transfer or adapt what they learned to life in the States.

McLaughlin said the trip did just that, and made him think more about what he can do to live sustainably and apply the Dominican ideas of community to everyday life.

"If one person changes something small for the betterment of the world, that has a domino effect and can rub off on people around them," McLaughlin said.