Raising awareness for the Amazon Rainforest

*Scratches, scratches, scratches*

One of my childhood friends used to tell me: “The humankind will find thousand and thousand ways to screw you. So hurry up and fulfill all your dreams then buy an island where you’ll shelter yourself because humankind won’t stand the fact you lived your dreams and escaped its mischieveness. Humankind will look for you to break you endlessly”.

My friend was about 15 years-old when he told me this the first time and I remember finding it bitter and sad that children could think this far , this way and this much about humankind. But then again, he had his reasons and I don’t blame him for thinking this way.

*Scratches, scratches, scratches*

Specially now, when one of my deepest wishes is starting to become unrealistic.

When this turns

into this.

Once upon a time, 14% of the Earth’s surface was green pure emerald forests. Now, it’s less than 6%. And experts say only 40 years to make it 0%. Which means by the way, that 2/3 of the South American continent will turn into nice squares of a desert, dry lands, industrial aeras or any post-apocalyptic landscape you cherish bitterly, you name it. For me, it’s the steel everywhere of factories working 24h/24h, pumping energies like creepy vampires and pouring loads and loads of colourful smoke and liquids into the surface. The funny part of it? I may be there, in some JACKET tour watching over the mecha critters of the place.

How come we’ve boiled down to such state of things? Easy!

Wood industry: Logging tropical hardwoods for exportation and wood-related industries such as chipboard and cardboard. In addition, the paper industry requires a massive amount of pulpwood trees. In order to satisfy the world’s demand, more and more of the rainforest is burned to the ground and replanted with pulpwood trees.

Guess what? Teejay wrote in his blog about paper use in the laboratory he’s having his FYP in. Why should it be the case for only one place, just in France? Why can’t it be your careless self sitting in front of your desk asking for effing white paper to write drafting while you can use your used handouts, your unused backside papers or special cheap recycled paper that you can buy within the stores (paper of butter, Roccie people! for the non-Moroccan, I wonder if you have this kind of brown-grey light big papers that is used to fold butter of meat?).

Besides, it’s not like we see everyone holding a book and having full bookcases at home so stop blaming books industry and focus on the paper waste! I’m looking so effing forward to digitalized paperwork, numeric sheets and supports. I’m so looking forward for it that I’m supporting it with my iPAQ, and maybe an iPAD if I can afford it. You may use your iPhone or ibrag-with-it-yet-hate-to-use-it-to-read-or-write-notes device. ANYTHING! ANYTHING WOULD DO IT! BRAINSTORM AND COME UP WITH OTHER ALTERNATIVES FOR GOD SAKE! I’ll do the creep dance if it can inspire you, people but start doing SOMETHING!

*Scratches, scratches, scratches, scratches, scratches, scratches*

Pastures and farming: Ranchers need more pastures for their livestock. It is estimated that to raise one steer consumes two acres of the rainforest.Amazon rainforest covers 1,2 billion acres – 200,000 of them are burned every day at a rate of al least one per second. In addition to this, grazing land degrades fast due to the lack of gradients and overgrazing, which means new rainforest land needs to be obtained to satisfy their needs. It is estimated that less than 10% rainforest land is suitable for conventional agriculture. Soon gets exhausted after 3 or 4 crops due to its poor-gradients condition and the lack of sustainable cultivation practices. As a consequence, farmers move deeper into the rainforest in search of new, fresh land. Soybeam is the largest crop.

Guess what? Here’s a hint newbie: don’t buy unless it’s rainforest-friendly. Means? Means don’t support the commerce of products that need the chopping down of a holy forest in order to be bred. Buy local, my friend! Don’t let the Amazonian forest’s neighbors need this much of steers to the point they need to delocalize to the rainforest in order to find pastures! let the people have just their own needs and stop grieving for snobish food just because you want it rainforest and bio! Isn’t there any product that can be bio, edible and don’t require you to brag about the fact “it’s coming from Brazil! more than 140$ the pound but hey, health needs what health needs!”

*Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches*

Road building: Since the 1970s, more than 9,000 miles of road have been built through the rainforest, endangering the environment as well as the lives of native Amazon tribes.

Guess what? You can change that!!You’re one of the citizens of this world and thus, your vote, your name in a petition, your raising your voice in a post, a tweet, a forum, a debate, an article, a community, you inner self, your toilets would suffice at times, specially if it’s an echoed “NO”. So have some balls and quit lazying around and pretending you can’t do a damn thing when obviously, you won’t spend more than one minute filling such charts!

Hydroelectric dams: Dams have an impact on the local wildlife, affecting migratory fish and the  Amazon Pink river dolphin for instance, and threaten the environment.

Guess what? I want this dolphin to stick for a longer while so don’t be a brat about energy and consume it as nature does: the compulsory and BASTA! Why do you need to keep your lap turned on when obviously it’s not downloading anything, or used for ANYTHING? Why do you only feel comfortable with all the lights turned on in a room, the water flowing while you’re brushing your teeth or doing the dishes? Why do you take a ride for a 15 min walk? Why? Just why don’t you turn off the TV? Why do you bath in a bathroom or keep the shower open? There’ll come time people, where you’ll have to do it old school by the hook or by the cook: filling a bassin of hot water, two bassins of cold water and providing a fourth one to mix the water. Yes, it gives you three warm bassins of water. Yes, it’s efficient and  yes it’s relaxing and no, it doesn’t take that much effort you lazy ass -_-.

People, we’re arguing over the shower when I didn’t even bring up the WC issue? Remind me again what you use for cleaning and how much water you consume? HAH!

*Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches**Scratches, scratches, scratches*

I was so happy today for I knew about the release of American MeGee’s Alice 2: Alice Madness Returns. One tweet from Jared Leto and my day is ruined. I let down my booklets of specifities, my ANSYS assignement and my preparations to write down this post in hope it might raise a little awareness. And I guess I’m back to a less bitter mood: oh yeah baby!! I screamed in the toilets, I raised my voice in the damn twitter and in my blog and I’m definitely making the rainforest the only blabbering topic of the week.

It hurts like a hell when you feel you’re personally targeted by a whole specie. I’m not feeling it but I’m starting to understand why people come to feel it and it’s a bad sign. I don’t want to go berserk or preteen pmsing about the world of the humankind: it’s something I despise as much as my period u__u.

*Scratches, scratches, scratches*

Anyway, people, I want to spread this message of awareness! Speak! Share! Talk! Just do something if you don’t want people to hate the humankind, or just if you don’t want me to carry on scratching my face, leaving scars and blood all over the place -_-.