Young EcoLeaders of the Brazilian Rainforest

Dear lovely donors,

Greetings from the rainforest, and we really hope you are doing well at the end of a long hard winter (if you’re located in the northern hemisphere!)

Here at Iracambi we’re still operating online (thank goodness for Zoom – where would we be without it?!) And yesterday we kicked off our second course for Environmental Leaders with 36 students from Amapá on the border with Venezuela in the far north to Rio Grande do Sul, way down on the borders of Argentina and all points inbetween.

After our very successful first course we decided to pre-record the lessons and upload them onto the platform to allow more time for moving into breakout rooms, having more in depth discussions, and coming together to figure out practical solutions to some of the challenges that are raised in the small group discussions. And, judging from the feedback on Whatsapp today, the students love our new structure! 

Here's how it works. There are 15 lessons in five modules and students have one week to complete each module which contains a pre-recorded class, additional materials and videos, an ebook which covers all the modules, and a "live" online class where they come together to debate the topic of the week. We’ve also ensured that students cannot proceed to the next module until they have completed their assignments in the current one!

Topics covered include an introduction to the course, an introduction to Iracambi and the work of an environmental non-profit, climate change, covid 19 and its effects on environmental protection, soils and environmental degradation, forests and water, biodiversity, the impacts of mining, how to structure and execute an environmental project, how to lobby your local government, and how environmental leaders can contribute to society.

Sad as we are not to be able to work with the local schoolchildren – the teachers assure us that in this rural area with its precarious internet access it simply isn’t feasible for local children to work remotely – we are thrilled at the enthusiastic response to our online courses, and excited to see the energy and interest of the students from across the country. If we are to save the extraordinary biodiversity of the rainforests, we’re going to need all the environmental leaders we can find!

Thank you so much, dear donors, for your unwavering support for our education program. We couldn’t do it without you!

Please take care of yourselves, and we’ll tell you more in our next letter,

Rainforest love from

Yasmin and the Iracambi team

Links:

• The iracambi site
• Iracambi instagram

• E book for environmental leaders (PDF)