Proposal on Saving the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest

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Saving The Gem
Proposal on Saving the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest
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Personal Background
I have taken three life-changing trips in my
life first to the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest,
second to the Galapagos Islands and mainland
Ecuador, and third, back to the Peruvian Amazon
Rainforest.
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You are probably wondering, Why did she go back
to Peru?
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Once Wasnt Enough

• All those experiences were and still are out of
  this world. I found Amazonas, as they say in
  Spanish, or the Amazon to be a precious gem
  tucked away in the heart of South America. I
  could not stop telling my two best friends every
  detail of my priceless adventure.

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Experience Creates Change

• However, talking was not enough to convince them
  of the importance of saving the Amazon. I had to
  bring them there. After months of preparation,
  las tres amigas hopped on an airplane together.
  The experience changed their world view too.

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Losing the Gem

• Research indicates that in a few short years the
  entire Amazon will be gone. So what to do? The
  answer, teach the native people the importance of
  their land and why they should save it. Let them
  know that they can thrive economically without
  their slash and burn agricultural cycle.

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Awareness and Action

• Most importantly, develop a program that helps
  them learn about the value of preserving the
  knowledge of their rainforest plants and animals,
  and the impact of living in harmony with the
  earth. Encourage them to transmit their culture
  to future generations.

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Rainforest Facts

• One and one-half acres of rainforest are lost
  every second.
• 137 species are lost in one day.
• 70 of the plant species identified by the US
  National Cancer Institute as holding anti-cancer
  properties come from rainforests.
• There are more fish species in the Amazon river
  system than in the entire Atlantic Ocean.

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Power of the Mind

• Motivate the native people into action by
  building their self esteem.
• Provide examples of individuals and communities
  who have made major inroads against the odds.
• Everyone can play a role in saving their home,
  village, and country. Let them know they are
  important, and they are the ones to make the
  difference.

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From Teacher to Student

• A society's first line of defense is not the law
  but customs, traditions and moral values. These
  behavioral norms, mostly transmitted by example,
  word-of-mouth and religious teachings, represent
  a body of wisdom distilled over the ages through
  experience and trial and error. Walter E.
  Williams

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What Do We Need To Build A Program?
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• Professionals to create an organized curriculum
  addressing particular topics with learning
  objectives for teachers and students.
• Scouts to find potential native people to become
  teachers at the one-room school houses in Iquitos
  and for educating students in Lima.
• Donations for materials and salaries

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Building a Foundation

• Will need a resource library
• Writers and artists to create the materials and
  lessons
• Government assistance
• Participation from environmental experts
• Cooperation from shamans and village leaders

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Culture and Myths

• The Yagua Indians call themselves Nihamwo
  meaning the people. This most influential tribe
  of the region gave the Amazon its name. When
  the European explorers saw the Yagua warriors in
  their grass skirts they thought they were women.
  

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• Therefore they were named after the Greek myth of
  the Amazon women warriors. As the white man began
  taking control of the land they made the woman
  wear red cotton skirts to distinguish amongst the
  genders. The red skirts have become engrained
  into the culture and are still worn today.

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Tradition

• The Yaguas are famous for their beautifully
  handcrafted blowguns or pucunas. Even though
  shotguns are an easier tool they are much more
  expensive, so blowguns are still widely used.

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The Sad Truth

• Sadly, the cultures of the Yagua and other native
  peoples are currently being lost at an alarming
  rate. The elders hold the key to the many uses
  of the land, including potential loss of
  medicinal application of natural botanical
  substances.

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Medicine Men and Science

• For thousands of years, the shamans spiritual
  rituals used plants from the rainforest to cure
  ailments. It is distressing to learn that 90 of
  these plants have never been tested and will not
  be available to scientific research if the
  rainforest is destroyed.

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Out of the 17 species of macaw, one is extinct,
another is extinct in the wild and seven are
endangered.
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The Economics

• Recently the economy in the Amazon has taken a
  turn. In the past bartering goods and services
  was the main form of transactions. Today, money
  has become very important to the natives. They
  have found that slash and burn is the easiest and
  fastest way to make money.

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What Is Slash and Burn?

• Slash and burn consists of cutting down
  everything within a large area, taking out the
  profitable logs, and then burning the rest. They
  then use the land to make plantations used for
  crops such as banana and sugar cane. Or they sow
  the area with grasses and graze cattle on the
  land.

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Deforestation Effects

• The slash and burn methods would be fine if they
  used the same piece of land over and over again.
  However, this is not possible because the topsoil
  and nutrients quickly erode. They get one use,
  and the next year they start the cycle over again
  in a new location. This means less habitat for
  animals and greater plant loss.

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What They Dont Know

• The natives do not understand the long term
  effects of slash and burn. We must educate them
  that there are ways to make money through more
  sustainable practices for their land.

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Global Awareness

• As the rainforest declines, the threat of global
  warming increases.
• The Amazon locks up at least 11 years of global
  CO2 emissions.
• Thus, this program will educate the people on the
  importance of their home.

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Caring for the Children
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Our Responsibility

• We must teach them what we know is happening to
  the earth in a simplified manner. Provide a
  network of teachers to spread the word of how to
  take back the land. And motivate them to take
  positive steps to help clean the worlds
  environment.

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Speaking Out and International Support

• Train the next generation of natives to become
  spokespeople for saving their way of life.
• Involve celebrity sponsors to support the people
  in marketing their handmade bags, bracelets, and
  necklaces all over the world to a large audience.

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Making ChangesStep byStep
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Teaching the Children

• The children in Iquitos are bright and yearn to
  know about the outside world. They also know
  what it means to work hard.
• I propose that each day a short lesson will be
  conducted based on the newly developed
  curriculum, emphasizing sustainability and
  responsibility to their land and culture.

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Making Lessons Fun

• The teacher will learn how to administer fun
  learning tools, games, songs and hands-on
  lessons. City kids can take trips into the
  rainforest. Guest speakers, such as trained
  environmentalists, and Shamans can be brought
  into the classrooms.

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Sample Lesson Plan

• Teacher Objective - To empower the students
  through story.
• Teacher will read The Handsomest Drowned Man by
  Gabriel Garcia Marquez to students
• Teacher will explain the symbolism of the story

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Provoking Thought

• A class discussion will follow on the students
  feelings, and ideas to improve their own village.
• Students will go home and discuss what they
  learned that day with family.

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Learning from Respected Village Leaders and
Medicine Men
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The Handsomest Drowned Man In the World

• At the time Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote The
  Handsomest Drowned Man in the World, Brazil was
  corrupted by drug czars. This fictional story
  illustrates how the innocent actions of children
  can save their home country through metaphor and
  symbolism.

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The Story

• The story begins when the children spot a large
  item that they first think is an enemy. Once
  they remove all the debris they find that item
  was a very handsome man. The women discover the
  children playing with the dead body. Horrified
  they take the man up to the village.

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Searching for Answers

• While the men travel to other villages to find
  out who he is and where he belongs, the women
  take a closer look and think he is very handsome.
  They decide to dress him, and must make new
  clothes because he is so enormous. While they
  sewed, they day-dreamed of how he would have been
  the best, strongest, wisest man in the village.

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The Unknown

• When the men returned they announced he did not
  belong to any surrounding villages. The women
  declared they wanted to give him an extravagant
  funeral, even though the men thought they were
  crazy.

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Unified Around a Cause

• When the women showed the men the giant, who they
  named Esteban, the men were awestruck. The
  villagers united by making him a beautiful place
  to rest and planting many flowers.

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Building BridgesIn the Sky
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Honor and Tradition

• Usually the villagers would tie an anchor to the
  dead persons feet so that they would not float
  back to shore. However, with Esteban, they
  decided to let him go without the anchor so that
  he could come back and visit whenever he pleased.
  

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Creating New Customs

• After the funeral, the community realized the
  village would never be complete. In honor of
  Estebans memory they painted their homes bright
  colors, and dug springs to irrigate their barren
  land so that they could adorn the village with
  more flowers than one could possibly imagine.

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Creating a Legacy

• They did this in the hope that, in years to come,
  their little village would become known as the
  place where Esteban lived.

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Children Are the Future

• In the beginning of the story the children were
  the ones who first approached what they thought
  could be a foreign enemy. Esteban, a dead man,
  ended up uniting the village. They changed old
  customs that created a more beautiful place to
  live.

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Begin with the Youth

• Without the children's curiosity and eagerness to
  learn, the village would have continued on the
  way it was.
• As this story illustrates, let us first educate
  the open-minded children, who will go home to
  their families and inform them of what they
  learned that day.

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Influencing the Adults

• The adults will become interested, and hopefully,
  want to learn more and become more involved in
  saving the Amazon. The children will be the
  future conservationists of their own land with
  the support of their parents.

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The Power of Education

• I personally know that educational experiences
  shape our lives. Lets save the Amazon through
  the power of education. Teach the native people
  the importance of their land. Let them know that
  they can thrive economically without destroying
  the rainforest.

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Educate to protect
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Baby Steps

• Educate them on the importance of their culture
  and knowledge of the plants and animals. It all
  begins with the children. Develop a curriculum
  that starts small and grows year by year. As
  momentum builds, we can save the precious gem
  the Peruvian Amazon.

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SCA/Mazda Conservation in Action2007 Contest
Entry

• A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with One
  Step Lao-tzu (604 BC - 531 BC)
• Dedicated to the indigenous peopleof the
  Amazon.Sonia Bruck
• Age 16
• Cary High School, Cary, NC
• I would like to thank Explorama, Juanito and my
  father for making this all possible.

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Works Cited

• "Pet trade and habitat loss decimating wild macaw
  populations." Mongabay.com.23 Oct. 2006. Texas
  AM University. 1 Dec. 2007 lthttp//http//news.m
  ongabay.com/2006/1023- macaws.htmlgt.
• "The Disappearing Rainforests." Rainforest
  Facts.1 Raintree Nutrition, Inc. 1 Dec. 2007
  lthttp//www.rain- tree.com/facts.htmgt.
• "Facts about the rainforest." Save The
  Rainforest.1 1 Dec. 2007 lthttp//www.savetherainf
  orest.org/savetherainforest_007.htmgt.
• Blanco, Otorongo."Introduction." The Yahua
  (Yagua) Indians of the Peruvian Amazon.1 El
  Tigre Journeys. 1 Dec. 2007 lthttp//www.biopark.o
  rg/peru/yahua.htmlgt.
• James, Pantone D."Yagua Indians Masters of
  Curare." Amazon- Indians.org.1 1 Dec. 2007
  lthttp//www.amazon- indians.org/page17.htmlgt.

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Photos

• Sonia Bruck
• Kimberly Wassil
• Lauren Powell
• Katie-Rose Levin
• Steven Levin

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Prevent the Future Destruction of the Peruvian
Amazon Rainforest.