Forest Feels: The Amazon Basin (2)
Proposal: a Bolsonaro psilocybin trip to help the plight of Amazon rainforest
2-3 minute read
Credit: David Geere
We profile the precious life-giving Amazon Rainforest and offer a restorative suggestion of our own.
Brazilian President Bolsonaro considers the Amazon a national sovereignty, but existential risk to the forest and humanity suggests otherwise. Taking even cursory note of climate science suggests the Amazon is a global concern.
“Since taking office in January 2019, the Bolsonaro administration has sabotaged Brazil’s environmental law enforcement agencies, falsely accused civil society organizations of environmental crimes, and sought to undermine Indigenous rights.
These policies have contributed to soaring deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon, an ecosystem vital for containing climate change, while jeopardizing the rights of forest defenders and local residents.” - Human Rights Watch [1]
We present a proposal
President Bolsonaro is invited to undergo a supervised ‘hero’s journey’ treatment of psilocybin* or Ayahuasca for an experience which will hopefully result in an attitude more agreeable to our survival.
* No, Mr Mito, it doesn’t have to be Moksha medicine. Psilocybin is illegal in most countries - we don’t sell it yet.
C’mon, it’ll be worthwhile.
Anyone interested in psilocybin’s therapeutic benefit can investigate it at John Hopkins Centre for Psychedelic Research.
Flippancy is not intended. News coverage [2, 3] suggests that a Bolsonaro intervention is due. After all, UN scientists tell us we have only a decade to direct climate change [4].
This particular proposal may be a pipe dream, but we can give voice to pragmatic projects in the region.
Trillion Trees: The Brazilian Chapter
Trillion Trees [5] aims for collaboration to finance and implement sustainable bio-economy with the goal of conserving and restoring the Amazon rainforest. The organisation supports the well-intentioned Leticia Pact of 2019 [6], signed by countries in the region, including Brazil.
Forest protection remains a formidable and ongoing challenge as we understand from sources like Ivaneide Bandeira Cardozo, at Kanindé [7]. Nonetheless, in the words of Nelson Mandela: “It always seems impossible until it's done”. And in one case, it has been done.
Amazon soya bean farming
Science Daily published a study called “Success in the Amazon: reducing deforestation” (University of California, Santa Barbara) [8].
In a nutshell, “the [soybean] moratorium has demonstrated that soy expansion is possible without deforestation”, says Holly Gibbs, associate professor at UW Madison.
This is a win for farmers and forest alike. There must be lessons to replicate for other industries affecting the forest, and these need greater publicity on the ground.
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Credit: Kyle Cleveland
What you can do
Supporting reputable organisations such as Trillion Trees can help this essential cause, and you can add your voice by sharing this information, too. You can also read how to be a “better consumer” at Amazon Aid Foundation.
This is the decade to combat the climate crisis. We extend the invitation to you.
We also extend it to President Bolsonaro, who still has a chance to be a humanitarian hero.
This is it
Moksha
Amazon Rainforest:
Reaches about 40% of South America
Covers eight countries
Harbors one million indigenous peoples & about 500 tribes
Home to over 30% of the world’s species
Considered to be crucial for life on earth
Sources
Attempt to Greenwash Bolsonaro’s Environmental Record Backfires at OECD. February 2021. Human Rights Watch.
Brazil’s Bolsonaro on the Environment, in His Own Words. August 2019. The New York Times.
Resistance to the 'environmental sect' is a cornerstone of Bolsonaro's rule. July 2020. The Guardian.
The world has just over a decade to get climate change under control, U.N. scientists say. October 2018. The Washington Post.
Trillion Tree Organisation, initiative of the World Economic Forum.
The Leticia Pact, Explained. October 2019. Amazon Aid Foundation.
Kanindé, non-profit environmental organization in Brazil
“Success in the Amazon: reducing deforestation”. December 2020. Science Daily.