Middle School Contribution: By Noah Cytrynbaum ‘28 Recently re-elected Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been working hard to reverse years of illegal logging, farming, oil drilling and gold mining in the Amazon Basin, which has caused extreme damage to the rainforest’s biodiversity and carbon sinks and which has killed many of the indigenous Yanomami people. With the encouragement of the preceding President, Jair Bolsonaro, industrialization expanded at an unprecedented rate in Brazil’s north and west at the expense of the local environment and indigenous nations. Bolsonaro’s administration is now being investigated for committing genocide against the Yanomami, the largest indigenous group in the country, as well as for destroying vast amounts of protected rainforest land.
“The destruction of the Amazon Rainforest is horrible,” said 7th grader Joey Sherman. “I knew it was being burned, but not that the ex-president was supporting it.” The Lula administration is now trying to reverse deforestation by cracking down on illegal industry in the Amazon Basin. In a series of raids against illegal gold miners, the Brazilian military seized fuel, boats, weapons and food and destroyed dwelling structures and planes, to disrupt their flow of goods and supplies, ultimately to protect the rainforest and its native inhabitants. The past few years have seen large portions of the Amazon rainforest being burnt down illegally, posing a massive environmental threat to Brazil and to the world, as the Amazon, with its billions of trees, is commonly known as the “lungs of the Earth.” Destroying the rainforest not only kills carbon dioxide-absorbing plants, but also releases it into the atmosphere, with experts saying that the Amazon now produces more carbon dioxide than it soaks up. Land is being cleared largely for cattle farming, which further adds greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, since the dairy and meat industries produce nearly 60 percent of food-related greenhouse gas emissions. “I feel disappointed and not surprised to hear about the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest,” said junior Hannah Weiss. “I have been gradually desensitized over the years to news of climate disaster, which is exactly what the contributors to the issue want. But [the people of Brazil] will not let the rush of negativity stop [them] from trying to make a difference, and President Lula certainly gives me hope for that possibility.” The growth of industry in the Amazon Basin has also caused a major humanitarian crisis for the indigenous Yanomami community, who are now facing extreme violence from the loggers, farmers, miners and oil drillers entering their territory. They also are facing diseases like malaria which have killed hundreds of children, as well as famine and malnutrition from polluted rivers and habitat destruction. The Brazilian Ministry of Health has found that the illegal miners seized four health clinics in the region, in order to weaken the health of the Yanomami communities so that their land can be more easily appropriated for industry. 20,000 Yanomami have been displaced from their homeland, with some escaping into neighboring Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname. Since Lula was inaugurated as President of Brazil on New Year’s Day this year, a public health emergency has been declared for the Yanomami people. “Bolsonaro’s dual destruction of the Amazon Rainforest and oppression of the indigenous nations who called the rainforest home reflects the interconnected histories of environmental destruction, racism, and colonialism,” said sophomore Shayne Cytrynbaum. “Brazil has a long history of all of these atrocities, and sadly industries such as crude oil, lumber, beef, and mining have long supported these abuses of environmental and human rights. And individual consumers are not to blame per se, we must remember that these corporations committing environmental destruction and anti-indigenous atrocities in Brazil are often not producing the products for Brazilians to use, but rather they are doing this to produce the products that we Americans and citizens of the Global North use in our daily lives.” Despite his predecessor’s complicity in the expansion of industry in the Amazon Basin, Lula has stated that he remains committed to championing indigenous rights and the protection of the Amazon during his time in office. Lula’s efforts are not going unnoticed; Time Magazine included him in their list of the 100 most influential people, with the subtitle: “Back to the Environment.” The article was also written by famed environmentalist and former US vice president Al Gore. Lula announced a bid to host the COP30 climate conference in 2025 in a city in the Amazon Basin, eventually settling on the northeastern coastal city of Belém. This past December, he also appointed Marina Silva, a prominent environmental activist and founder of the “Sustainability Network” party, as Brazil’s official Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, which many environmental activists saw as a sign of Lula’s commitment to environmentalism.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
EditorShayne Cytrynbaum Archives
December 2023
Categories |