Young EcoLeaders of the Brazilian Rainforest

Hello hello dear friends!

It is with great joy that we share with you the beginning of our Environmental Education Project, Young Ecoleaders! As you already know the course longs to teach the kids more about environmental issues of today, make them think in a critical manner, forgetting previous bias that they might have, seeking to make them have a greater contact with nature.

The course is aimed at children, young people and adolescents from the region around Iracambi and three schools in this region were selected to benefit these students, who will undergo this training for 5 months, until the end of this year.

As we said before, we had more than 70 letters to choose from and it was so difficult to chose a restricted number of students and we already presented you to some of them!

Topics such as soil, water, fauna, flora, culture and biodiversity will be addressed and brought to the reality of the region/community.

We had our first meeting with the three groups and you can take a look at the picture!

And this couldn’t be done without YOU!

So thank you for supporting us and helping spread the mission and love for the environment!

With lots of love from the rainforest - both by the kids and the Education team!

Dear, wonderful donors, 

In our last letter, we told you that we’re selectingour next group of Ecoleaders, and we asked the kids to write to us and tell us why they would like to join the program. Here is one of their letters. 

“Dear organizers of the project that will be developed in Iracambi,

I would like to participate in the project that is being offered to the students at my school because I want to learn about this important topic: how to protect the environment.

I believe that projects like this one should be taught so as to stimulate a greater interest and care for nature.  Due to human actions,  nature has suffered from deforestation, global warming and other causes that end up causing an imbalance and the extinction of living beings around the world.

I hope to acquire knowledge and experience that can lead me to collaborate with the planet, to learn how to preserve it, to have more contact with nature and also to help raise awareness among other human beings.

 As the daughter of local farmers, I believe I can share my learning with my family and other families in the region. This project can contribute to my understanding, and I have a lot of interest and desire to participate!”

As you can see, we are helping the kids to come closer to nature and learn about and from it.  And this is only possible because YOUR gift, help us do our job!

So THANK YOU for that!

with much love, 

The Iracambi Educators 

PS: In our last letter we promised to send you pictures. And we will, we promise! 

People say the best way to learn to live is to tune in to nature and see what you find.

And what better way to learn, if not in the beautiful Atlantic Forest, one of the most important biomes in Latin America?

There is that old saying that “nature is not a place to visit, it is a home” and we strongly believe it! 

We know that contact with nature plays a crucial role in brain development, according to this recent study which looked at the association between cognitive development and being outdoors in green space.

We also know that our children are privileged to live so close to a beautiful forest, and we want them to know that too. Show them how beautiful and wise nature can be, how much we can learn from it. And that's why we are finalizing the selection of our next ecoleaders!

They are special young people, who, driven by innate curiosity and wonder, will start our program next month. And in the meantime, the kids who have already completed our program, are finally graduating, and are living proof that hands-on outdoor classes sit better in young people's brains than learning theory from a book.

Not that theory isn't necessary; it is, but now they know the value of an education outside the boundaries of the traditional school, since nature offers an endless playground of possibilities and discoveries. Our kids even had the chance to write a letter from the rainforest to supermodel Gisele Bündchen, (who donated to our cause through her  foundation), telling her all about what  they learned over the last few months!

Do you believe we can change the lives of the kids through education? Because we do!  

So, stay tuned to know more about the program and the kids who were chosen for our next ecoleader !

Lots of love,

Agnaldo and Dayana, the environmental educators.

Dear friends - passionate about education!

Over the past weeks, our environmental team visited several schools in the Rosário de Limeira region in order to talk to the students about their relationship with nature, since many of them have participated in various projects and initiatives in their schools and communities.

This proved to be a fruitful opportunity for talking about environmental education - both for us and also for the students. It culminated in our educators inviting the students to volunteer at Iracambi, helping out with day to day activities - as an incentive for them to become eco-leaders in their communities.

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To select our future young eco-leaders for the 2022 program, we decided to work with the state and municipal schools in Limeira. 

After identifying those who showed interest in taking part in the program, we asked them to write letters, telling us a little more about their experience with nature, what about it brings a sparkle to their eye, why they want to be ecoleaders, and whythey feel it's important for them to participate. 

And today, letters from our future young eco-leaders started to arrive here!

Can you imagine their content?

We can just give you a sneak peek by quoting the incredible Muriel Spark "To me, education is about  bringing forth what is already there in the soul of the pupil."

We’ll tell you more in our next letter, and introduce you to some of the students! 

with lots of love.

The Iracambi educators

Dear friend,

We hope you’re doing well, staying safe, and carrying on during these times.

Here in Iracambi, we’ve been working hard with our two environmental educators, to receive back the schools and our incredible – and curious! – young eco-leaders and there is still so much to be done.

And for that, YOU can play an integral part in moving our projects forward:

We’re reaching out to you as one of our top supporters to let you in on a special opportunity from our partner, GlobalGiving, to get donations of $100 USD and up matched on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, starting at 9 a.m. ET. The higher the amount, the higher the match while funds last.

In the spirit of this matching campaign, we’re making big, bold asks of our long-time supporters – and that’s you! 

We already know that your past support has helped us accomplish our goals and we thank you so much for that! You’re a superhero and as long as there are individuals like you, we can hope for a better future!

Can we count on you to support our work with a one-time gift of up to $1,000 on Wednesday, July 20?

With lots of rainforest love,

The Iracambi team.