r/BeAmazed • u/MambaMentality24x2 • Jul 28 '26

Nature Good news: Costa Rica brought its forests back đŸŒ±

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Costa Rica became the first tropical country to successfully reverse deforestation. After losing much of its forest cover to farming and cattle ranching, the country changed course through conservation efforts, protected areas, and programmes that encouraged landowners to protect forests.

Today, forests cover around 60% of Costa Rica again, turning a story of environmental destruction into one of the world’s most inspiring conservation successes.

A reminder that when nature is given a chance, it can recover.

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26

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u/Scientia_et_Fidem Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

Immigrants and ex-pats are used to describe two different things. One plans to stay permanently and the other does not, it has nothing to do with who is going to which country. Please take 30 seconds to google the uses before complaining.

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u/ExiledCanuck Jul 29 '26

I moved from North America to Central America. I’m an immigrant here. The amount of people who have moved to this country, permanently, and call themselves “ex-pats” instead of immigrants, especially retirees, also from North America, is like 90% of them. It’s very annoying to see and hear.

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u/hopelesscaribou Jul 29 '26

Unlike many immigrants, 'ex-pats' never give up their original citizenship, nor do they apply for Costa Rican citizenship. They are also not typically there to work, as even the digital nomads work for companies back home.

As I see it, Ex-Pats are the have your cake and eat it crowd, mostly retirees taking advantage of less developed economies while never giving up their privileges back home. Immigrants are seeking a new home and working and contributing to local society and their new country.

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u/ExiledCanuck Jul 29 '26

I’ve lived as an immigrant in two different countries tried now for different periods of my life. I’ve never known any immigrant who gave up their original citizenship. Most countries recognize multiple citizenships. Most of the “ex-pats” I know, are as far along as possible to be “permanent residents” where they live. (I don’t live in CR btw)

They just treat the word “immigrant” with disdain, like it’s a dirty word. And call them selves expats, even if this doesn’t apply to them, because maybe it makes them feel better. It’s weird, and ignorant.

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u/8647T4C0 Jul 28 '26

I never seen anybody calling a brown Mexican living in USA an "expat". Why do they call them immigrants then ? Has anybody asked them if they intend to stay permanently?

The only reason Americans came up with the dumb ex pat term is racism. They needed to differentiate themselves from brown people. 

Funniest part is them not realizing that every single white American living in USA comes from a family of IMMIGRANTS, most likely European

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u/techdevjp Jul 29 '26

It's expat. One word. No space, no dash. It is short for expatriate. It's also a British term and not something invented by Americans.

Expats generally come from wealthy countries. Often (but not always!) wealthier than the country they have moved to. They may or may not be wealthy themselves, but often are. They don't generally integrate into the society of the country they have moved to. The move is often expected to be temporary in nature, but there are also very long term expats. There were a lot of British expats in Hong Kong, for example.

Immigrants are often people who move from developing countries to more developed countries. Sometimes they move between two fairly equally developed countries. Rarely do they move from a rich developed country to a poor developing country. The move is generally planned to be permanent in nature.

One person can be both. In the US, Peter Thiel is an immigrant. No doubt about it. But now in Argentina? He's an expat.

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u/[deleted] Jul 29 '26

[deleted]

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u/Squirrel_McNutz Jul 29 '26

That’s what he said.

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u/Sibu_12345 Jul 29 '26

Nah, you are immigrants.

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u/techdevjp Jul 30 '26

Me personally, yeah, I'm an immigrant. Have lived in Japan since the early 90s and I have no plan to leave. I'll croak here.

There are plenty of expats here too, they come for a few years and then move somewhere else or go home.

It's almost like different words are used to mean different things, and it's kinda important to use them correctly if you want to understand.

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u/Sibu_12345 Jul 30 '26

There are no expats and immigrant dichotomy. You are all immigrants.

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u/techdevjp Jul 30 '26

Sure buddy, if wanting to ignore that words exist makes you happy, go ahead. No kink shaming here.

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u/8647T4C0 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26

If you move to another country to live and work there you are an immigrant. Period. Doesn't matter if you are rich , poor , white brown or from an English speaking country

Like I said it's clearly a racist term just made to differentiate white Americans from the rest of the races

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u/CascadianSovietGo Jul 29 '26

If you move to another country to live and work there you are an immigrant.

That's not what immigrant means. Even the USA doesn't call temporary workers immigrants, and we have non-immigrant visas for people who don't want to stay here permanently. The largest groups holding non-immigrant worker visas for the USA are Indian and Chinese expats.

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u/Squirrel_McNutz Jul 29 '26

Are American the only white people?

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u/nuclear_science Jul 29 '26

Speaking as a New Zealander and as someone who lived in Australia for almost ten years, we don't use the term expat at all, I have only heard Americans using it. Most commonly we say something like "gone overseas to work for a bit". If I ever hear the word expat, I automatically assume American.

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u/Attic81 Jul 29 '26

hmm I've heard it used quite frequently in conjunction to A/NZ communities in SE Asia

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u/nuclear_science Jul 29 '26

When talking to Americans or where others commonly use that term then we will use that term, but u don't think I've ever really heard many people talk like that within NZ/Australia. But it might also be that I simply never hung out with the type of person who would use it. I know a 2-3 people who worked in China as teachers and a few Australians who worked in Singapore and Hong Kong in chemistry and never heard them use the term but maybe it's more to do with working over there in a Western company that now has a branch there. So maybe getting a job in a university on one's own motivation is a little different from when one goes over because your company wants you too.

I don't know if there is a difference there but I just know that of the people I know who worked internationally, none of them ever used that term

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u/natchinatchi Jul 29 '26

Nope, NZers use it a lot in places like PNG, where white people are just going for job opportunities and not making it their real home. It definitely is a loaded term in terms of race, wealth extraction and empire.

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u/nuclear_science Jul 29 '26

I don't think you can assume that about every single person who uses the term. People don't have the same definitions in their heads as others all the time. For instance people all have very different ideas of the word "love" even if we all use it. Similarly I don't think you can assume that every white person who works in a non-western country is trying to expand some empire. Or that every non-western person working in a western country has good intentions to whatever country they are working in. That idea in itself seems racist

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u/VillagerWithAQuest Jul 29 '26

Australian here. When my mates went overseas for teaching English/whatever they exclusively referred to themselves as expats. When I went to visit them their (European and American and Australian) friends all used the term expat.

They stayed in expat areas, spoke only English, taught at expats schools and went to expat bars.

Naturally this is completely different to those damn immigrants coming here and clustering in certain suburbs and having their regional food and speaking their native languages.

Edit: and naturally we Aussies don't count UK-born or NZ-born as those nasty immigrants

/s

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u/invisible-bug Jul 29 '26

But that is so many extra letters

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u/Vaiden_Kelsier Jul 29 '26

Yup! Homie responding is completely missing the point. lol

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u/Scientia_et_Fidem Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

Yes, immigrants. As in people who came and stayed permanently. Which is why their children are still living in the states.

You are literally proving my point. That is why they are immigrants, and a dude who works for Microsoft in Costa Rica for 5 years is an expat. Or a guy from Brazil who works in the US for 4 years for Pilgrim’s Pride is an expat. If they have legal paperwork stating it is a temporary stay to work for a company then they are an expat.

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u/DeyUrban Jul 29 '26

My sister has been living in the Netherlands for almost a decade, and identifies as an immigrant. Her Dutch in-laws constantly refer to her as an expat while shit-talk immigrants of a darker complexion. I’ve discussed this with other Europeans, and a Dane defended the distinction quite strongly. It’s definitely not just an American thing.

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u/ehmboh Jul 29 '26

“We are a nation of immigrants” is a very common assertion in America

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u/ElegantCoach4066 Jul 29 '26

Its hilarious watching some of these people get so upset about anyone questioning the 'expat' usage.

I swear the guy you're responding to has to be the most pedantic comments I've read in a while.

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u/Thebraincellisorange Jul 29 '26

dude, it's not just Americans.

pretty much all white people living overseas earning a wage to send home call themselves 'ex-pats'.

I think it's to distinguish themselves from brown people, because when brown people do it, its normally as slave labour or blue collar work, whereas when white people do it, it's 'higher', white collar work.

I don't even know that Americans came up with the term. I've heard white people from every corner of the globe refer to themselves as 'expats'.

it's a loathsome term.

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u/ForgiveAlways Jul 29 '26

Well played.

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u/CoastedCoyote Jul 28 '26

Then when people from Mexico come to the US during harvest season to work the fields, why do they call them immigrants? You might want to take that same 30 seconds and google the word Immigrant.

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u/Thickenun Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26

I have always heard them referred to as migrant workers rather than immigrants. Immigrant suggests an intent to stay and put down roots. If you have heard any Americans using the latter term they are just plain wrong and probably trying to sell you on some nonsense.

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u/ehmboh Jul 29 '26

They are Mexican expats

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u/jackster31415 Jul 29 '26

No one calls them that though

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u/Dunklsta Jul 29 '26

I wanted to become an expat, but the country I wanted to go to just has immigration laws and permits

they don't understand how I am different, some countries are so archaic

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u/3vs3BigGameHunters Jul 29 '26

The only thing I think of when people say "ex-pats" is sex tourists.

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u/AndyLorentz Jul 29 '26

Those are "sex-pats"

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u/Jokers_friend Jul 29 '26

Probably the dumbest thing I’ll read today.

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u/relationsdviceguy Jul 28 '26

I think immigrant is someone who plans on staying permanently.

An expat is someone who’s length of stay they don’t yet know.

So you could be a Filipino expat living in Spain or a Caucasian immigrant living in Thailand.

People really will get outraged at anything

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u/LimpAfternoon6878 Jul 28 '26

That's completely made up. Being an immigrant does not require permanent residence and being an expat does not imply temporary stay. The guy above you has it right, expats is mostly used to describe immigrants from Eurocentric countries. Try googling Filipino expat and see how many results actually use those words. Every result I'm seeing is referencing white people moving to the Philippines.

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u/Lost-In-The-Wilds Jul 28 '26

I just checked Miriam Webster.

IMMIGRANT: a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.

EXPATRIATE (Noun): a person who lives in a foreign country.

Expatriate can also imply giving up your allegiance to your former country. Similar to Emigrant, all it signifies is leaving your old country. It says nothing about where you're staying now or for how long. Also, Ex-Pat is mainly a British thing to say, but it sounds cool so I'm sure 'Muricans will swipe it if they can.

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u/BeBearAwareOK Jul 28 '26

Bring back emigrant imo.

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/techdevjp Jul 29 '26

I’ll be damned if I’ve ever heard an American, Canadian, or European refer to themselves as an immigrant when leaving their home country to take up residence elsewhere.

I'm a Canadian who was an expat in Japan for many years, but now considers himself an immigrant. I didn't intend to stay permanently but now I do. The reality has changed, so the term has changed.

Also, there is no hyphen or space in expat. It is short for expatriate. You're right that expats tend to come from wealthier countries. Many move to less wealthy countries, but one can be an expat anywhere.

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u/LimpAfternoon6878 Jul 29 '26

Hey, the more you know. Thanks. I have seen expat used pretty often in the US, especially in regards to places like Costa Rica and Colombia where a lot of Americans like to end up. The swiping has succeeded

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u/LessInThought Jul 29 '26

No, it's ex pat. The dude formerly known as patrick.

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u/Linenoise77 Jul 28 '26

Traveling internationally, as an English speaker, the way I have always referred to people\heard them referred to was:

Expat-Someone who has been someplace for a length of time and integrated somewhat, but has not dropped connections to their home, and doesn't intend to stay

New- Someone who is expected to be there for a length of time, but hasn't really integrated at all.

Lives- Someone who now views that place as their "home"

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u/Vaiden_Kelsier Jul 29 '26

So let's start calling migrant workers then expats. That'd be logically sound then, correct?

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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26

[deleted]

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u/tomahawk66mtb Jul 29 '26

I think you are right about the duality - I referred to myself as an immigrant to Sri Lanka as my family and I have moved here permanently (that's our plan) and are learning the language and integrating. But I was corrected by someone telling me I'm an expat because I'm only on a 10 year visa and Sri Lanka has no pathway to permanent residence or nationality except through marriage.

I'm also white, so maybe that's why the observer called me an expat đŸ€Ł

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u/BusyEquipment529 Jul 28 '26

Its only immigrants when it's filthy browns infiltrating gods America obviously /s

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u/No-Bison-5397 Jul 28 '26

Ex-Pat describes a person in relation to the country they left, immigrants describes a person in relation to the country they arrived in. You have to be an immigrant to be an expatriate/emigrant/Ă©migrĂ©/exile but they don’t all mean the same thing.

I think putting purely down to imperialism is probably a bit reductive and says more about you than whoever is using the term “ex-pat”.

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u/piesforall Jul 28 '26

You think you're being clever parroting a point that you've heard someone else make, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

I've been both an immigrant (refugee) and an ex-pat. The idea that these are two different words for the same experience is absurd.

As an immigrant, we were fleeing persecution in our country of birth. The US took us in as refugees when we had no money, spoke no English.

Over a decade later, I moved to the UK. I'm not all that keen on the US, but I'm certainly not fleeing anything. I have two master's degrees and a decent job. I'm a world away from the girl who couldn't understand a word of what her classmates said, whose family had to rely on the kindness of distant relatives to keep food in the fridge.

We use different words for the two experiences because they are different. It's not imperialist to say so.

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u/ii_ego_ii Jul 29 '26

They aren't immigrants of they can't vote.

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u/Qubeye Jul 29 '26

To me "ex-pat" refers to retirees. They are leeches who are benefiting from poverty while also ironically transferring wealthy country money to a poor country.

Immigrants work for a living.

I don't really think it's imperialist so much as classist. It's about money. Middle class people Europe who move to other parts of Europe with lower costs of living so they can live rich in their retirement.

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u/ButtplugBurgerAIDS Jul 29 '26

May I ask why you call them leeches? Or why it's bad for the middle class to want to live rich in retirement? I ask this honestly. I'd consider myself middle class, not making six figures or anything. If I don't have enough for retirement here in the states, it would definitely be on the table to move somewhere else with a lower cost of living out of the states. If we are bringing our money into these spaces, why is this frowned upon?