Tag: protect our earth

Please help protect the Amazon! Brazil to pass a new law

I hate to come back to my blog after an absence with bad or worrisome news however, here I am with some. I’ve made it no secret on this blog that I am a supporter of leaving the Amazon rainforest and the people within it alone. And after the fairly recent election of a new president in Brazil, who claimed that he was going to fight to undo the things the previous president set in place that were harmful to the indigenous peoples of Brazil, I had hope, however small it was.

But it is not to be. It seems like the Brazilian government is almost identical to ours here in the U.S. The president is pretty much just a figurehead while all the other people around him from the different voting parties pull the strings. That is pretty much what is happening as Brazilian congress (who is overwhelmingly right-wing) is trying to pass a new law that will pretty much strip the environmental ministry of their right to defend and protect the Amazon. It will also strip the laws already in place that offer the Amazon rainforest protections from further destruction and theft of the land. And get this: people from within President Silva’s own party helped vote to pass this through.

If this new law goes into effect, it will most definitely be a genocide of epic proportions as the indigenous peoples who still reside in the rainforest will be evicted for land and economic development, or murdered if they choose to stay and fight for their ancestral land. It’s all so absolutely heartbreaking. There have been many protests, and Brazilian police are responding with violence.

As someone who is not Brazilian nor do I live in Brazil, the most I can do is spread the word and sign petitions. If you would like to fight for the Amazon and help lend your voice (even if only digitally) to speaking out against the trauma constantly being inflicted on the Amazon and the indigenous people who still live there, please look at the petitions that I have linked below and sign your name.

With everything going on all over the world and all the many distractions we have in our society, it is easy to turn a blind eye to things like this. I don’t wish to claim that certain things are more important than others because I know that what is important to one person, won’t be for another. But if you are reading this, I hope you take a moment to truly click through the links I have provided to read up on what is going on with the Amazon and sign the petitions.

Thank you for reading ~

Petitions you can still sign:

Global call for the urgent prevention of genocide of the indigenous peoples of Brazil

https://www.change.org/p/the-global-petition-to-protect-the-amazon (old petition that still needs more signatures)

Bill they are trying to pass (This page is in Portuguese, but please use an online translator so you can understand):

https://www.camara.leg.br/propostas-legislativas/345311

Links to articles:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/brazil-lula-environmental-indigenous-agenda/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/25/brazil-congress-environment-indigenous-ministry-powers

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/31/brazil-law-indigenous-lands-congress

Neytiri’s Songcord – Neytiriyä Waytelem

lie si oe neteyamur
nawma sa’nokur mìfa oeyä
atanti ngal molunge
mipa tìreyti, mipa ‘itanti

lawnol a mì te’lan, lawnol a mì te’lan

ngaru irayo seiyi ayoe, tonìri tìreyä
ngaru irayo seiyi ayoe, srrìri tìreyä

ma Eywa, ma Eywa

zola’u nìprrte’ ma kiri
ngati oel munge soaiane
lie si oe atanur
pähem parul, tì’ongokx ahuta

lawnol a mì te’lan, lawnol a mì te’lan

ngaru irayo seiyi ayoe, tonìri tìreyä
ngaru irayo seiyi ayoe, srrìri tìreyä

ma Eywa, ma Eywa

May the waters bring you life. May Eywa be with you always ~

Sustainable Business Shoutout! – Rainforest Chica

Hello everyone! This post is going to be fairly brief. I just wanted to come shout out a small business that I have come across that helps indigenous families and local communities in the Brazilian Amazon.

Things in Brazil have been very scary lately. And as an American, it is horrifying to see what happened here with our election back in 2020, also happening in the same exact way in Brazil with their citizens storming capital buildings. Seeing it play out almost exactly the way it happened here is so heartbreaking and I can’t help but feel a little helpless. We live in strange and dangerous times and I will continue to pray for the safety of myself, my family, and the citizens around me. I do the same for the people of Brazil as well.

Although I am just one singular person, I still try to do things that can help, such as having this blog to get the word out, or supporting people, groups, and businesses who work closely with (or within) the actual communities I am trying to support. In this case, that business is a small online shop called Rainforest Chica.

Rainforest Chica is a business that sells butters and oils from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in order to support the local and indigenous populations. She and her suppliers only work with non-timber forest products and are completely against the deforestation of the Amazon. Please read her company’s ‘About’ section below.

Rainforest Chica also has a Youtube channel where she uploads occasionally to show where she is getting her products from and ways to use them to better your skin and hair health. If you have a few minutes, please watch the video below about why she chooses wild harvested products and chooses to work with small indigenous farmers instead of huge corporations.

I really appreciate businesses like this and I hope she can continue to remain sustainable and helping local communities. As someone who is still learning how to make my own products, I am doing my best to find businesses like Rainforest Chica so that my money brings relief to the people that need it and aids in the preservation of the earth, instead of having my money go to huge conglomerates that destroy everything and make false alternatives for high prices just to turn a profit.

If you are reading this, I hope you can check out Rainforest Chica and possibly find something you might want to buy or at least spread the word about this sustainable business. Thanks for reading!

~ Na’vi Dreamer 💙 🌎

Environmental Conservation is Self-Preservation: Here’s Why

I was watching a documentary today (at the time of writing this) about how Brazil is trying to fight against their current president’s policies regarding the Amazon rainforest. One of the things that stood out to me was when the narrator said that Bolsonaro and miners are choosing to destroy the rainforest with the sole intent to get rid of indigenous protections as a way of putting self-preservation above environmental conservation. And I had to stop the video after hearing this.

Not only was I feeling upset at an image that quickly showed on the screen of a large explosion with lots of fire in the Amazon, but I was also upset because I can’t believe people like Bolsonaro and the countless miners exist with this mindset. I don’t understand how they can’t see that environmental conservation actually is self-preservation.

What is more self-preserving than protecting the Earth so that we as humans can forever have a planet to live on?? What is more self-preserving than making sure we have a place to call home? And what is more self-preserving than making sure a planet is left for our future generations?

It’s baffling to me. Utterly baffling.

“Sky people cannot learn; you do not see.”

– Neytiri

Self-preservation should not be about instant gratification. I’m sure almost everyone has heard of the saying, “there are no shortcuts to success.” This mindset can be applied to our livelihoods. Deforesting the Amazon in order to build more cities, more businesses, and grow economically will only bring temporary satisfaction and temporary preservation. Because what happens when we can’t grow our own food anymore? What happens when there is no more green? What happens when everywhere is filled with so much gas, pollution, smog, and yellow dust we can’t go anywhere without masks on? At that point, who needs corona virus when we can create our own virus-free future where wearing masks is still permanent due to the toxic environment?

The Avatar film really had it right. The opening scene on the extended edition DVD truly showed what our future can look like when all the green is gone. Not a single blade of grass in sight. Not a single tree. No flowers, no flying animals, no fauna anywhere.

The scifi movies try to make it cool showing that in the future we can press a button and a full meal will be steaming hot waiting for us in less than 3 seconds. Maybe it’s cool for a film. But it’s not cool for real life. I mean, how awful do you feel after eating food that is pumped with steroids, preservatives, and a bunch of fillers? Why on earth would I want a bunch of fake food at the press of a button when I can grow it myself, make it taste good, and it be good for me?

“…the world we come from. There’s no green there. They killed their mother, and their gonna do the same here.”

– Jake Sully

And they truly have already started. They, meaning the people in power. The people that call all the shots and run the countries of the world. Everyone wants to be prosperous and own big conglomerates, have the most money, and use the most up-to-date technology. But technology is killing the Earth, conglomerates are shady and are selling poor quality items for insane prices, and you can’t eat money.

So, what now?

Sometimes I feel like I’m just shouting into the void.

If you’re interested in watching the documentary I was viewing, I will link it below.

Dear Crayola…

So, today I did something that I never thought I would do. For the first time, I wrote a letter to a business questioning their environmental practices. Well…saying it like that makes it sound a bit more confrontational than it really was, when really I was just asking for some clarification and transparency.

Recently, I have been using Crayola colored pencils again since I have gotten back into art. Crayola is a brand that I have been using off and on since childhood. I went to the Crayola website to see if I could order products straight from them but was quickly lured away by my own excitement when I saw their page on their sustainability efforts.

As a newbie conservationist, I have been taking small steps toward my environmental and wildlife advocacy. I have been searching online how I can be more active with this. So seeing that Crayola was also taking steps to be more “green”, I got excited. They even shared on their website how their colored pencils are “reforested colored pencils” and that they “are produced with wood from well-managed forests to help preserve resources”.

But then I turned over the two packs of colored pencils that I have to see where they were made, and lo and behold….they were made in Brazil.

Now, I didn’t want to immediately jump to any conclusions, however my mind immediately began to think of how the Amazon is constantly being destroyed due to illegal logging, illegal burning, and large foreign businesses employing these illegal loggers. All for the sake of getting wood, oil, and other resources that they think they need for their businesses at a cheap price.

So instead of getting angry about it, I decided to see if I can write to them. Fortunately, they have a contact page. I typed up my letter and sent it to them before I got off work and now, it’s just a waiting game to see if I get a response.

I do truly believe that the people behind Crayola want to do good things for the Earth. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t bother investing in solar power for their manufacturing needs. They wouldn’t have a recycling program that converts plastic into energy (if that actually even works). And they wouldn’t share all of their up-cycled craft ideas.

On the back of the colored pencil boxes it says that the pencils are made with planted trees in order to preserve the natural forests. But trees takes actual years to grow, and it takes decades for trees to reach their full maturity. A huge conglomerate like Crayola produces so much material, I fail to see how they can make their pencils solely from trees they are planting themselves or solely from tree farms they might do business with.

In my letter I asked what they specifically mean when they say their colored pencils are made from “well-managed forests” and where exactly do they get their wood from in order to make these pencils as well as all the cardboard boxes most of their craft materials come in. Again, I just want some clarity and transparency.

If I get a response, I will update and post about it here. I am hoping for good information because I actually like Crayola products. However, if they cannot be transparent about their materials or if it comes out that they are procuring their materials in a harmful way, then I cannot in good conscious continue to support the business and purchase their materials.

Fingers crossed!

*EDIT* 5/30/2022 – So, it has been 2 weeks and I have heard nothing back from Crayola. I guess I didn’t really expect to hear anything back, really. Even though the website says they will reply within two business days. And even though I didn’t expect to get a response, I’m still disappointed.

Hello again…

It’s been months since I have posted anything and the 1-year anniversary of my very first post has already passed. I know I don’t have many readers for this small blog, but I thought I’d share why I’ve been gone regardless. I guess I have just been feeling discouraged and overwhelmed these past few months.

Discouraged because as a long-time fan of the Avatar film, I don’t know how to feel about the sequel we are finally getting. Mostly because, of all the information that has been released about the storyline and characters, I can’t bring myself to even fake like I am interested. And since I am not interested, I am having a hard time balancing my disinterest for the second film with my love for the first film, in order to keep this blog going.

I don’t care about Jake’s and Neytiri’s kids. I don’t want to follow around their children for this movie. It doesn’t interest me that Jake wants to adopt a human child. I don’t care about nor do I want to see family drama. I don’t want to see Quaritch as a villain again, let alone for ALL of the following sequels. And I’m annoyed that this movie takes place a decade after the events of the first movie since, you know…this film is being released THIRTEEN YEARS after the first film.

I look around online and so many die-hard fans of James Cameron have so much faith in him. I can’t say I am a JC stan, I just like the Avatar film. So, I guess that blind faith that everyone else has is just not there in me. I want to be excited for this new film. I want to be interested in the plot. But so far I’m just…not. And that disappoints me even more for some reason.

Maybe it’s because the original film had such an impact on me from such a young age that I had my own expectations. And even though the second film has yet to be released, those expectations are not being met so far. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I truly wanted a continuation, not subsequent stand-alone films.

I don’t want this to come off as if I am dissing James Cameron or the Avatar franchise. I made a whole site devoted to the fandom for heaven’s sake. But…I don’t know. I guess I just feel jaded towards it all, and I feel disappointed about feeling so jaded because I freakin love Avatar.

I’ve also been feeling overwhelmed because of all the horrible things happening in the world lately. Bad things happen all the time, I know, but it feels like there has been a huge spotlight on all the negativity happening in the world recently. Every single day on all the news channels there are reports of bad things.

Recently, just a few days ago, there was another police shooting of a black man in the US. There is an all out war in Europe right now. And in Brazil, the government has passed a bill to give the green light for continuing to burn down the Amazon rain forest, and the two environmental websites that I follow the most closely have had nothing but bad updates on trying to hold western banks accountable for helping fund he deforestation of the Amazon.

All of this just makes me feel sick to my stomach honestly, and even staying involved in my fandoms, like Avatar, for some escape aren’t helping. I feel like the world is in shambles and has been since the initial covid shut down back in late 2019/early 2020. I didn’t mean to get on here and be so down and sad, but this is why I have not been posting for the past three and half months.

If you are reading this, I hope you are doing well and taking care of yourself the best you can. Even with covid mandates dropping and things starting to return back to “normal”, please continue to be safe, check on your friends and family, and don’t give up the fight on protecting our earth. It’s tough and can sometimes feel like a hopeless battle, but please stay strong. It’s something I also try to tell myself everyday.

Eywa be with you all 💙

~ Na’vi Dreamer ~

Help End Amazon Crude! Exit Amazon Oil & Gas

If you are interested in hearing from indigenous leaders and environmental activists about how banks can help put an end to crude oil and gas from damaging the Amazon rainforest, be sure to watch the webinar. Link to the webinar will be under the photos! 🌴

Tuesday, September 21 @ 11am EST (USA/Canada) & 8am PDT (USA/Canada)

Why I Like The Na’vi

One of the many reasons that I like the Na’vi so much is because of their connection to nature. I honestly can’t remember a time that I didn’t love nature. Unless it was mosquitos lol.

I was the kid that collected rocks and my mom would get frustrated every time she washed my clothes because a hoard of rocks would fall out of my pockets and into the washing machine.

I used to pick yellow dandelions even though I was allergic to them.

I would also collect the big, white, fluffy ones and make wishes over them before blowing them into the air. And yes, I called them “wishies” and not dandelions lol. I believed that as long as the dandelion seeds caught the wind instead of falling straight to the ground, then your wishes or prayers would come true.

I had a pet caterpillar and cried when I had to release it after it turned into a butterfly.

I climbed trees like it was my religion and dreamed of the day that I would have a treehouse and live in it ( I am an adult and still want one lol).

After watching the movie Ferngully as a child, I swore I could talk to trees and hear them.

I could go on and on. People like to talk crap about Avatar, but if you got nothing else out of the movie, I hope you can take away the message of appreciating the natural world around you. There is so much beauty in it and as long as you take care of it, it will always give.

The Amazon Tribe That Inspired Avatar

Although not the only tribe affected with what’s happening in Brazil right now, this is the specific tribe that Avatar was based off of. I’ve only ever seen James Cameron’s documentary on this tribe, but watching this 15-minute video absolutely made my blood boil and by the time it was over, my eyes were stinging with tears.

I am absolutely disgusted and appalled at what Brazilian leadership is doing and the specific things the man said in this video made me want to gag. I am at a complete loss for words.

I have no idea where to ind the full 60-minute episode, but this 15 minutes is more than enough to get the point across.

Trigger warning for pretty much everything pertaining to the destruction of nature and human life.

When learning about stuff like this, it’s easy to want to scream, yell, and curse Brazilian leadership. It’s easy to want to ask how we can donate and write to our own leadership to possibly step in and do something, but what will it do? What will it do when you have environmentalist leaders who aren’t even environmentalist, who’ve never been to the Amazon before, and who is on record saying that “Indians are indolent”?

What will it do when the new environmentalist leadership is filled with nothing but retired police and military officers? What will it do when you have a Brazilian president who is also on record saying that Indians are less than human? (Direct quotes from this article here: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/brazils-bolsonaro-creates-amazon-counsil-and-environmental-police-force/ )

2021 update on the Amazon: https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/amazon-forest-loss-hits-second-highest-level-since-2008/

My heart just feels so heavy. And to know that something similar is going on in my own country with oil pipeline 3 being built to run through the land and treaty territory of the Anishinaabe people. I don’t know what to do or what will help. We are calling on our own president and state officials, and we hear absolutely nothing in return.

So, I post this to get the word out to anyone who might care. Write to your leaders. Repost and spread the voices of the indigenous people strong enough to speak out, brave enough to risk arrest during protests, and those who are sharing their own experiences. Even if you are feeling hopeless like I am feeling right now, do what you can and never back down. Indigenous people deserve to live and they deserve to keep their lands and their homes.

For anyone that is not familiar with Line 3, here is the website and a video breaking down what’s happening in simpler terms:

Website: https://www.stopline3.org/#intro