Young EcoLeaders of the Brazilian Rainforest

Hello dear donors!

And we hope you are doing well, wherever you are in the world. We want to send you an update on our program, which comes with a big vote of thanks for your support! 

As we mentioned in our last letter, we've been working on our fourth online course for environmental leaders, and last week we held the final session, during which each group presents the project they have been working on. We are really happy to see how the groups are increasingly coming up with creative and practical solutions to environmental problems. Not only coming up with ideas, but putting them to work. So in this letter we'd like to showcase the first two projects, and we'll tell you about the others in our next letter, OK? 

Interestingly the first two groups to present were all-female, and they were also tackling the same subject – proper disposal of garbage. Group 1 adopted the idea of working with city authorities to set up Recycling Areas in their respective cities, and including the subject in the school curriculum. Since group members live in different cities, they plan to hold one another accountable and report back to one another on their progress.

They'll all adopt the same methodology and will start by generating publicity through social media, first about the problem, and then about the cleanup days they plan to hold once a month. Now in Brazil it seems that almost every day is a special day in commemoration of a particular profession or a historical day, or something connected with the environment. So one of the days they have chosen is October 23rd which is Zero Trash Day (in case you didn´t know.) They'll be celebrating the day by performing a group cleanup, followed by a discussion emphasizing the five Rs  – Rethink, Refuse, (for example the use of plastic bags) Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Through regular cleanup days they're hoping to generate a new way of thinking about trash, underlining the positive effects of living in a clean and healthy environment, mobilizing community support to beautify the city, and valuing the work of the trash pickers who perform such a valuable public service.

Group 2 named their project Trash that isn't really Trash, and their approach is to publicize the issue through holding movie sessions in schools and public squares. They'll show environmentally themed films, followed by group discussions where they'll question whether trash is really trash or whether it can be reused, recycled, or upcycled. Each movie session will be followed by a group cleanup and an announcement of the next movie showing, to stimulate interest in continuing the program. As well as working with the schools, they plan to hold movie nights in the city squares, encouraging moviegoers to adopt their local square, and inviting the children to adopt a tree and visit it regularly. 

We're delighted at the way our courses are working out, and want to send you a big thank you for your donations that help us keep the program running. In our next letter we'll report back on the other groups, and we've also got some cool ideas for future programs, that we'd love to share with you! 

So, in the meantime, please look after yourselves, and we´ll talk soon, 

with love and appreciation from Yasmin and the Iracambi Educators