Day 25
Although the official study abroad is over, I am grateful that I get a few more days in Brazil, specifically in Rio de Janeiro with one of my closest friends. Now that I am no longer in the Amazon where (believe it or not) there is basically zero internet connection, I have the ability to share my Amazonian experience.
City #4: Santarem (and about 5 or 6 other cities/communities throughout the Amazon)
The Amazon by far was my favorite part of this trip. This was not my first time here, but this second trip was even better because I got too see and experience for myself how people can live sustainably within a forest, which is literally a dream come true for me. The best part was a five day boat tour Amazon to visit various traditional communities.
Getting to know these communities and their culture and people is one of the most amazing experiences in my entire life. Learning their way of life and how they live within the forest as a part of nature with value for it beyond extraction was unbelievable. As sustainability students, scientists and professionals, we always talk about changing the system, shifting to another paradigm, and transforming current values and beliefs. Until this trip, it was all just theoretical. Actually being able to see these communities was overwhelmingly beautiful as they accomplished all these ideas I’ve only daydreamed about.
After this amazing boat trip, we went back to Santarem and I was forced with some terrifying realizations. The city of Santarem is more or less entirely run by Cargill. As we drove down a road on the way to a sustainable extraction reserve, I could see on the other side of the road the true destruction of deforestation for the unprotected areas of the rainforest. My friend commented on the whiteness of the tree trunks of the few survivors that look like the “bones” of the forest that once stood there. The very last stop was to a bauxite mine. Although this mine doesn’t seem as destructive as most, facing all these harsh realities of the world we live was quite difficult for me personally.
I questioned why we would end the trip with all of these disasters instead of ending it with our peaceful boat trip. Then it came to me. This made me sad, but it even more so, it just made me really angry. These realities are what I will be facing in the real world. This is what I am up against. But now more than ever, I feel not only obligated, but determined and motivated to make the changes I have always thought I would, but didn’t know where to start. I’m still not exactly sure where this starting point is, but you can be sure I will not just keep sitting around waiting for it.
