Young EcoLeaders of the Brazilian Rainforest

Good afternoon dear donors!

I hope you are all doing well, that communications are holding up and that you are in good spirits? 

Omigoodness, life in the rainforest is never dull. For a start the rains are upon us and that always upsets our internet. For some reason it takes a little time to settle into the new season, and, on top of everything else, there was that generalized failure of social media on Monday, just as we were about to start our fifth course for environmental leaders. Since we communicate with one another largely through Whatsapp, we did wonder how many students would actually make it onto the platform for our first class. Amazingly, two thirds of them managed it, and since we record all the material, the rest were able to catch up over the next day or so!

But we are nothing if not resilient, and are thrilled to welcome a new group of students from across the country, all of whom are burning to do something about the environmental problems that surround them. If anything, it seems that long periods of social isolation – along with the relative ease of communication (!) – have sharpened their desire to find like-minded souls and take a stand in favor of the environment.

The other exciting event took place just before the onset of the rains, and that was when we were able to host (virtually) four groups of third graders from Colorado, who were interested in learning all about the rainforest – which is always a popular subject. We didn’t, sadly, have any children our end, since our schools are only just reopening and we can’t yet bring any school groups to our forest campus. But we did have some staff members and Brazilian volunteers, ready and willing to field all manner of questions such as how many plant species are there in our forests (20,000), have we ever discovered any new species (yes, we have,) what are the largest animals to be found in our forests, (one is the woolly spider monkey who is about the same size as the third graders,) and then, of course, the conversation turned to prehistoric animals, with particular emphasis on the Giant Sloth!

We are so happy to have, on the one hand, our cohort of Brazilian students of all ages and from different backgrounds, with  their imaginative solutions to environmental challenges, and, on the other, to be in touch with curious young minds from the northern hemisphere. We can´t wait for the new school year to begin in February when we really, really hope to be able to host the local children once again in the living laboratory of the rainforest. We didn´t realize how much we miss them. 

And in the meantime, dear donors, we want to send you a special thank you for supporting us through this difficult time. It hasn´t been easy for any of us, and we can´t tell you how grateful we are that you continue to be there for us, as we reimagine ways of delivering environmental education. Thank you all!

 Please take care. Better times are around the corner. 

With love and appreciation from Yasmin and the Iracambi Educators

Dear donors, partners and wonderful friends, 

We hope that all is good your end, and we want to send you a big thankyou for your amazing support, and tell you what is new down here.

As promised, here´s an update on more exciting initiatives arising from our recently concluded online course for environmental leaders.

The first group was looking at safely managing fire – an important topic at this time of year as the onset of the rains is approaching. In many parts of Brazil this is called the burning season, and here at Iracambi we are always alert for wildfires. In rural areas like ours, local farmers set fire to clear the weeds for the next planting season, and in the cities people set fire to vacant lots to burn trash and keep them clean. But at the end of the dry season it´s easy for fires to get out of control, and we all need to be especially vigilant.

The students were focusing on fires on vacant lots in the cities, which cause pollution and can easily burn out of control. So their idea was to transform these vacant lots - often the destination for trash and worse - into attractive community spaces where people can come together to plant a community garden. Their strategy started with mobilizing the local community, continued with cleanups and creating composting centers and moved to establishing gardens to grow and later market or donate fresh fruit and vegetables. Trash to treasure once again! 

The second group also plan to grow plants - but this time in the context of the impact of mining on soils and waters.  Mining is always a hot topic in this state of Minas Gerais whose very name means General Mines! You may possibly remember hearing about some major disasters that took place a few years back when large earth dams built to contain mining tailings burst and cause huge destruction and loss of life.

The main challenge defined by this group was contamination of soils and water during mining operations, and one of the solutions they propose is phytoremediation – growing certain plants that absorb contamination.

When we started these courses, we honestly had no idea where they would lead us, but there's no doubt that there's great demand for creating opportunities for people to work together to tackle some of the most pressing problems facing their communities!

Thank you, dear donors, for you magnificent support. Together we´re doing our part! 

with love and appreciation, 

Yasmin and the Iracambi team