Brazil: Minister of Ideas

Brazil has a Minister of Ideas! Well, he's officially the minister for strategic affairs, but very cool none the less. His name is Roberto Mangabeira Unger and he started teaching at Harvard Law when he was 24. Here's a nytimes.com article on him ("'Minister of Ideas' tried to put Brazil's future in focus").

“I regard myself as a man without charm in a country of charmers,” he said from his office here in Brazil’s capital. “But I am very tenacious, and I have never given up.”

"Some of [Brazilian President Lula] Mr. da Silva’s top advisers view Mr. Unger as a political wild card, somewhat awkward and eccentric. He speaks Portuguese with a decidedly American accent. During a tour of Africa last summer with the president, Mr. Unger could often be seen engrossed in Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” Supporters say Mr. Unger’s intellect is an asset to Mr. da Silva. “He turns out ideas in a machine-like pace,” said Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister of Mexico and a close friend of Mr. Unger."

Brazil: I'm glad people like this exist

(rr.gov.br)

"I ended up here in late November by invitation of Lance Ranger, an Englishman living in Switzerland whom I met in Newfoundland last summer. Ranger, 47, bought the camp in the Amazon earlier that year. He fell in love with the raw beauty of the place when his brother-in-law took him on a fishing trip here. I met up with him at the camp, or, rather, intercepted him, as he was on his way to Antarctica to ski to the South Pole to raise money for his charity for disabled children in Mauritius. (link to Ranger foundation here)

One night I asked Ranger why he bought the camp. He laughed and said, “I’m looking forward to finding the reason.” He listed a series of personal setbacks, including the death of his father and a separation from his wife, that drew him to do it, then added: “I plan to spend as much time as I can here. This place has affected me. I want to be a good steward of this river, just keep it the way it is.”

What appealed to him most about the Amazon? “It’s all out there,” he said, and explained that he liked how nothing was concealing its true nature. “Everything wants to eat you.”"
- "River of Danger, River of Peace" by James Proseck, nytimes.com

Brazil: Bet you didn't know...

Rio Napo

"Francisco de Orellana (cousin to explorer Gonzalo Pizarro) floated down the Rio Napo to its confluence with the Amazon, near Iquitos (Peru), and then to the mouth of the Amazon. Along the way his expedition suffered numerous attacks by Indians; some of the Indian warriors, they reported, were female, like the Amazons of Greek mythology, and thus the world's greatest river got its name." (Lonely Planet guide to Brazil, p.602)

Brazilian News...Raposa Serra do Sol reservation

Ok, so for my Global Perspectives and Realities class, I am trying to figure out what's going on with the rainforest in Brazil. I read in an awesome New Yorker article yesterday (Um, can't find it online, will add it later) that said something like that Indonesia and Brazil both contribute to 10% of the Carbon Dioxide added to the atmosphere because of their destruction of their rainforests.

Ok, I've known since 4th grade that destruction of rainforests is the worst thing ever (atmosphere, ecosystems, endangered species, the list goes on). But, it seems like it actually might be the worst thing ever. So, I think I'm going to slowly build my project up here (via my blog), looking at why it's happening. Maybe we'll be surprised, maybe not.

When SustainMizzou (our recycling club/organization on campus) showed An Inconvenient Truth last year, I was talking with some enviro-evangelists afterwards about what I could do and it seemed like the most proactive thing was to not eat meat from Brazil that was raised on rainforest land. Uhh...done.

So, I've been obsessed with Brazil for no clear reason for years now, and I want to figure more out about this. Come along!

The picture above is a map of where the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation is. There have been protests and bridge-burnings lately (nytimes article) because the government is removing non-Indians from the area. I don't understand this whole thing, but maybe I will soon.

links for next time:
nytimes: "Brazil, Alarmed, Reconsiders Policy on Climate Change"
nytimes: "In the Amazon: Conservation or Colonialism?"
mongabay.com: "Rainforests of Brazil: An Environmental Status Report"