Young EcoLeaders of the Brazilian Rainforest

Dear friends, donors and supporters

Yes, I'm sure it's happened to you. You just complete a nice report, stop for a cup of coffee, and return to find that the report has GONE. Did you hit the wrong button, was there a momentary power outage? Never mind what happened, you grit your teeth, sit down and start over. 

But it's always a pleasure to share updates with you, dear donors. So before we go any further, we'd like to send you a big thank you for staying with us through thick and thin, because without you we wouldn't be here, and we certainly wouldn't be raising a new generation of young conservationists.

As you may have noticed, Brazil has been in the headlines a lot over the past weeks and months. What with the Olympic Games, and economic and political upheavals of heroic proportions, it's surprising that anything got done. But here in the rainforest we are far from the corridors of power, and we've been quietly getting on with the job. In fact the next important date on our calendar is at the end of the month when our Young Eco-Leaders have been invited to participate in Agro Ecology week at the Tech Institute in Muriaé (our nearest medium sized town, about forty km from here.) This will give them the chance to mingle with other budding young scientists and exchange news and views.

They will have plenty to talk about.This quarter we've been focusing on soils: why rainforest soils are generally low in fertility, what different types of soil we have, and how we can help create more fertile soils through using compost and simple home-made fertilizers. As befits curious young scientists, our students have been asking all sorts of smart questions - what makes soils fertile or infertile, how to increase permeability, why erosion occurs, how to prevent and remediate it, and how on earth microorganisms can play a role in both the decomposition and the restoration of soils. We've been looking at the process of decomposition by studying a tomato as it "rots," over the course of days, weeks and months, and we've also been making compost and seeing for ourselves how to çreate fertile soil from household food waste.

Since we are lucky enough to have a living laboratory in the Atlantic Forest, we've also been studying life cycles of birds, insects, small mammals and plants, using magnifying glasses, microscopes and camera traps. Check out the picture below - can you guess what animal walked through the Research Center this week? (Hint: one of the big cats...)

And of course we've been working on leadership skills: team building, problem solving and critical thinking. Many of our Eco-Leaders are first generation students, and by exposing them to real life science we are able to impact not only the students but also their families. The more they get to learn about the forest ecosystem, the more they come to appreciate it and care for it. And that benefits the forests, the students, and all of us. 

So, dear supporters, it's been a joy to talk with you, and once again, a big thank you for being there for us.

rainforest love,

Arielle, Luiz, Leandro and the Young Eco-Leaders        

Links:

• Iracambi website

Dear supporters and friends,

Here is the latest update from our Young Eco Leaders who are hard at work changing their little corner of the world. And this semester we’ve been literally getting our hands dirty, learning about different soil types, about how different soils have different filtration rates, studying the rate of soil compaction, and discovering that different plants require different soils.

Of course being young and super energetic, our students love going out on our forest trails. So we took them on a long hike to find seeds for our forest nursery. They learned how to identify several different tree species by observing the shape of the tree, its leaves, bark, and fruits, and observing the birds that eat the fruit. It's a big job - did we tell you we have twenty thousand plant species in the Atlantic Forest?. We also talked about creating organic fertilizer, and discussed the environmental and economic benefits of using it. 

Later on we had a round table discussion on the challenges facing our community, and identified one problem which seems to be common to communities across the world: the quantity of garbage produced and discarded!  As good researchers, we paid a visit to the recycling unit in our town, interviewed the staff, and then carried out a survey of garbage produced by the community. It's amazing what you can learn from examining what people throw away! We were able to build up picture of local consumption habits and in return relate that to health problems like obesity and diabetes. (You've guessed it - lots and LOTS of empty soda bottles.) We also discussed how some forms of garbage could be recycled into useful and beautiful items. At the end of the day our students are beginning to acquire a notion of some of the complex questions facing our societies and some of the possible solutions.

But the most important thing is this. We want to help raise a new generation of young people who are critical and creative thinkers. We want them to share their insights and information, with each other and with their families, since they are full of energy and love to talk!  We were thinking about this last week when we had a meeting with the municipal Secretary of Education to talk about how we could involve the students more and more and really help them become change makers in the community. Because our future depends on them and it’s up to us, together with their families and teachers, to build a better future.

So we’re counting on your help, dear friends, because without you we couldn’t get it done.Together we’re fighting to create a program of environmental education that will transform our students and inspire them to go out and change the world!

rainforest love to you all, 

Arielle, Luiz, Demian and the Young Eco Leaders 

Links:

• project page in the Iracambi site