Reflecting on science and environmental writing and the Amazon

The top things I learned or was reinforced to acknowledge as a science writer:

1. Pay attention to the money. When a new grant is received then there is probably some kind of progression happening in that field or particular research project. However, conflicts of interest must be paid attention to once writing the article. Who is giving the money? A pharmaceutical company or a nonprofit organization? Who came up with the research topic? Who is writing the report? What connections do the researchers have with any corporations/business ties?

2. Pay attention to the tools. New discoveries are made every day in science and the environment, so in order to help narrow down what is “newsworthy” a reporter must pay attention to new tools and devices used to make that discovery—sometimes the discovery itself is not “newsworthy.” For example, a new way to splice genes or to examine the different proteins would be a story worth covering.

3. Pay attention to the methodology. Conflicts happen every day here, even in peer-reviewed research articles. Understand statistics and the different between causation and correlation because many times it is hard to really isolate one factor as the main cause for something. A writer must look at everything holistically to understand the significance of a study, or lack thereof.

4. Understand embargoes and how strict they are with different science journals. The integrity of the reporter and scientist can be threatened if a journalist breaks an embargo.

5. Understand what “getting both sides of the story” means in science writing. Because many time you’re dealing with hard facts that aren’t subjective and don’t change depending on the scientist, you don’t have to put a creationist theory in every single one of your stories, for example. Though, it is important to know of any critical scientists who can shed more light on a subject. Always have multiple sources and multiple explanations from different scientists who are knowledgeable on the subject.

6. Keep in mind the structure of the story since many people find science too difficult to understand. Remember the AB-BC-CD structure to help you formulate a clean and straightforward article that your readers will understand.

The top things I learned or was reinforced to acknowledge about the Amazon:

1. Deforestation: there are many aspects to this issue in the Amazon that do not seem to be fully explained in most articles I have read. For example, because Brasil is an export-driven country people must realize farmers and ranchers aren’t slashing and burning forests here still simply because they are too stubborn to change their ways. They have no other way to produce an income, and people in developed countries are consuming these things—it’s hardly even the people here supporting such expensive resources. The government also has difficulty in enforcing regulations and environmentally friendly policies because it is more of a socioeconomic issue. They must be able to provide jobs to these farmers and ranchers before being able to tell them they must discontinue their form of income.

2. While there is a disproportionate distributing of wealth here it is much more extreme than the United States. But what is completely different from the United States is that beyond the class differences, there is an uneven distribution of information.

3. What happens when “exotic” products like the açaí berry goes into an international market, and what happens to the available nutrition to the lower classes here when a once cheap and healthy food is shipped everyone else in the world. The price is hiked up and it quickly becomes the rich-man’s food.

4. There are efforts being made here by the military to relocate border-living indigenous people because it for some reason believes they want to secede from the country of Brasil. Anthropologists studying these tribes, however, say differently.

5. Yellow fever and leprosy: considering it’s not even a requirement to get the yellow fever vaccination before traveling here, it came to a surprise to me that there were almost 60 confirmed cases last year. Both of these diseases, as well as many others, are still major problems here even though huge efforts are made to disseminate vaccinations.

Day Onze: New paths are shining

The clouds come over way, casting dark lines upon the golden beach and brown-tipped waves of the Amazon River. The sun had been beaming, poking itself out of the white pillows of the sky until violet rain clouds push our way. I wander around taking picture after picture from every angle of the river’s last beach before it opens up to the Atlantic Ocean. I know this was one of the last moments I could capture of a forest that has grown so close to my soul over the past two weeks. When will I get to come back here, I wonder. When will get to lay my eyes on this wide and mysterious river again?

I sit in silence while the others go about their storytelling and last-minute bonding. I only want to bond with the various palm trees and brightly colored rocks tumbling ashore by the gentle river waves. And then it begins to rain.

On the way back to the city I watch the bicyclers trudge through the heavy chuva (rain) but with it being such a daily occurrence, the rain doesn’t bother them. I’m glad I enjoy the warm rains here and houses built on stilts and children kicking cans with their feet and sticks. Life is so simple. Everyone puts their hands to work here — no one is left sitting.

The downpour turns into a drizzle. The rain comes and goes faster than the people drive here, which is a difficult feat. My return someday will hopefully not be long from now and my stay here has only encouraged the achievement of my dreams. No longer do I feel I pressure myself to accomplish too many things or that anyone else does for that matter. These dreams are my goals because I am going to reach them. They are not too far off or impossible — this is my choice.

I feel a knot forming in my throat and emptiness in my stomach. I do not want to leave but I know this journey has only been a confirmation of my abilities to expand my mind, maybe even to overachieve (as some say I do too often). This world, I decide, needs overachievers. The bricks do not get laid by themselves — there must be someone willing to do the stacking; someone to pursue the direction people say they want but don’t choose. They just continue on the already-trodden road because much less work is necessary. Your life’s work is the legend you leave, and whether few or many know of you or your legend, as long as you make one then, to me, life is worth living.

The drizzle ends and the sun makes its way from behind the clouds and dries the red soil and brown skin of the cyclers. The sun always prevails. I begin my legend.

Day Dez: From dirt to pavement

It’s the classic saga of industrialization: the formation of trade routes, logging and mining routes that eventually become dirt roadways, to paved highways. While the questions arises of which came first the industry or the road; one must keep in mind the history of each area in Brasil to understand the relationship between road construction and industrialization. In Northern California, for example, there are a few preservationist groups who would like to blockade some of the old timber logging roads, but what good would this do since the roads aren’t even used for this industry in the same scale as 15 years ago. Now the road is road, hikers, campers and hunters use the road. Firefighters use the road. Northern California’s road situation is far different from that of Brasil’s, however.

Paving roads in Brasil means the threat of access to those who shouldn’t necessarily be accessing it. It means further access into the Amazon Rainforest that grilagems (people who squat on a piece of land and use it as their own and then attempt to sell the land to someone else) will use to exploit or other poachers of all sorts. As Peter Mann de Toledo, the president of the Institute of Social and Economic Development of Pará and former director of the Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi (pictured below), as soon as the government supports paved road development many see it as an opportunity to do some development of their own. “It’s a new El Dorado,” he said where all of sudden people are running out and searching for the treasure.

Mann de Toledo also discussed the change in land development from 20 to 30 years ago in Brasil to what is encouraged and used today. Below is a picture the methods used before more regulations were set in place. The corridor is the forest, usually along a water source, with small patches (the mancha) of forest surrounding the greater matrix where the road and resource production/harvesting took place.

Today the 80/20 law is followed more strictly (where 80 percent of the land is set aside for forest conservation and 20 percent is used for farming and/or ranching). Now the corridor is the road in and out, the matrix (the larger parts) is forest left untouched and the mancha is the cleared area for land development. Below is an example.

ARTICLE 2: Squeezing out the açaí berry's juice and money

It’s purple, small and round, grows in the Amazon and is an example of Brasil’s continuing trouble with resource sustainability in regards to fairness to the economic system, small farmers and the environment.

The açaí berry from the açaí palm tree is a fast-growing staple of Brasilian exports to countries like the United States where it is used in beverages and hyped as a “superfood” stuffed with antioxidants. There is no actual evidence, such as review by the FDA, that it harbors such massive amounts of nutrients.

In her presentation “The Forest for Who?” the director of the Museu Paraense Emilio Goelde in Belém, Pará, Brasil, Ima Vieira, an ecologist with a specialty in degradation, cited the recent influx of açaí as “a management opportunity to produce without destroying.”

Because of the berries popularity as an export the price for rich berry has been increasing. Vieira said before it became a celebrity, for one liter it cost local Brasilians 1-2 reais, which is equivalent to 50 cents to $1 in the U.S.

Now for the same amount it costs 10 reais for locals, or about five U.S. dollars.

The berry production going international has also encouraged deforestation, an already hot topic in a timber and mining-reliant nation. Instead of farmers managing a diverse area of vegetation per one hectare, Vieira said farmers are clearing any land below the palm tree so all of the soil’s nutrients are driven to the açaí — an economic encouragement for farmers to maintain one type of tree per hectare, thus decreasing the biodiversity as well.

According to a March 2009 New York Times article, 53 new food and drink açaí products were launched in the U.S. in 2008, where it was only four products in 2004. The article also states that according to Spins, a market researcher specializing in natural products, açaí-product sales exceeded $106 million in 2008.

While the government requires users of the land to use only 20 percent of their allotted land and to keep the other 80 percent as a conservation unit, most farmers, Vieira said, do not follow this regulation for any resource harvesting. While the state of Pará, for example, has enforced fines and the threat of jail for over-deforestation, it is not easily regulated. Municipal governments are said to look the other way in some cases because of the economic benefits harvesting the land can have for a community.

Day Nove: No more silence

Sustainability again. It seems to be the most difficult task for humans to achieve — maybe it’s because there are too many of us, maybe it is because we are egocentric. Whether it is harvesting timber, fruit or mining, the Amazon is constantly being deforested. But how do you tell almost a majority of its inhabitants of the land who are living below the poverty line to stop their way of life and to cease their modes of survival. What jobs do we give them? Where do they go to make a living? What will they eat and drink? What will they tell their children who are already forced to grow up at an earlier age than most Americans?

The United States — while it is in a similar situation but largely downsized — it is by choice because of a green and environmentally friendly conscious developed countries have the wedge room to make. A swing from fossil fuel production to biofuel, for example, is underway because the U.S. government, particularly since the end of the Bush Administration in November 2008, has realized that the resources we rely on to use and for jobs are being depleted. The Obama Administration has made clear a shift that is necessary to make. While it is not a smooth shift and people are losing their homes and feeling the backlash of our years of dependence on limited resources and exploited sustainable resources, in the long run it will be an improved and updated America to fit our global and environmental circumstances.

America doesn’t help, however. In fact, we are a huge contributor to the problems areas like the Amazon face. We are the consumers — an import-driven country. Would we stop producing huge blockbuster Hollywood movies if someone told us that for whatever reason it was hurting their balance between the environment and their daily health? No, the films make too much money for those who are in control. We don’t have to face those imbalances in our cushy lives so why should we care?

While we are pushing everyone to be environmentally friendly we continue to consume, we’re just outsourcing what we are consuming, so it doesn’t look like it’s so bad here. Countries like Brasil then become exploited because they need the money — they have what we want, and we have what they want — it seems like such a simple exchange. But then, all of a sudden, the land is unusable, so they must find other land where soon after, the cycle repeats and more land is needed. And more. And more.

And we continue to pay them off for their exotic goods, for their unknowing silence, their soil and dreams.

Day Oito: Yellow fevering

I wish I had received the yellow fever vaccination after today. While interviewing Elisabeth Santos, the director of the Ministry of Health at the Evandro Chagas Institute under the Sectretariat of Surveillance in Health located in Belém, Pará, Brasil, I began to feel an ache in my stomach. Santos doesn’t understand why it’s not a requirement for tourists to receive the vaccination since confirmed cases are still reported on — 59 last year in fact.

The indigenous peoples here are an interesting facet of the country whether it is a discussion about disease, land use or supposed secession. The military here, according to another person we interviewed at the Museu Paraense Emilio Goelde, Claudia Lopez a researcher and anthropologist at the park, seem to think that indigenous lands (similar to that of reservations in the United States) hope to secede from the country of Brasil and make all the efforts they can to relocate these peoples to another location other than country borders. Anthropologists, she says, working with these indigenous groups have no motivation to discard Brasil as their own.

As far as disease and the indigenous people, according to Santos, they are pretty accepting of Western medicine when it is available to them, but that the spiritual healing part of their tradition is not ignored either. She said that usually the local healer has just as much say in treatments as those who are visiting to help. She said that once contact is made consumerism and Western materials are too hard to avoid but that traditions are still observed. If they weren’t still observed then they probably wouldn’t have any desire to stay as remote as they do — they would just move to the city or the suburbs.

Sustainability is also an issue here as it is anywhere else in the world. Figuring out a balance between deprivation and preservation so the environment and those using its resources can both come out as winners is not easy. There are always differing opinions out there, especially when it has to do with the use of resources. Some ask why not just do reforestation where deforestation as occurred, however with nutrient-lacking soil in Brasil this solution is not so easy, besides from the fact that once deforestation occurs, the biodiversity in that area has already been affected. Part of why so much deforestation has happened so rapidly in Brasil is because the land is so infertile that crops do not persist efficiently in the soils for very long, maybe around 5 years on average, so new land is constantly required. While this was not discussed at any of the lectures, legumes are being used around the world as a long and short-term solution to this issue. Education of the advantages to planting legumes with crops is still underway and while it is not a new plant the widespread use for soil sustainability is only at its beginning.

After purchasing more Brasilian-like clothing and getting my hair braided people have been staring at me less, and seem more shocked that I do not speak Portuguese. I like this comfort; it makes me feel less likely to be mugged because it is not so obvious I am American. Once I return to the states, however, people will probably stare at me because I have braids!

Day sete: Where are the bathrooms? (and VIDEO)

I plan on rocking out with my anaconda-skin tamborim (tambourine) as soon as I get back to the states. I don’t even know where to go from here in the blog entry because how do I top that sentence?

Today was the Festa Junina commemorating São João (Saint John). It is also the celebration of Saints Anthony and Peter. Thousands of people gathered at the Docas to the march toward the center of the city to the Belém Plaza, where a concert and hundreds of vendors were set up with all types of local goods. While marching everyone follows a brasilian folk band and everyone swings to the music. The colorful streets and music rushed to my feet and hips and I couldn’t stop dancing as well.



Spending the day with some students at the college we’ve gone to a couple of times for lecture was a true cultural integration. While they showed us around the festival and told us other things about Belém we did not yet know about, they asked us an infinite amount of questions that I loved answering. It was also nice to hear that the youth here are not nearly as apathetic as the adults — just like Estados Unidos. One conversation with Uriel, one of the males in the group, was of the most interest to me: men using the sidewalks and building walls as urinals. He hates it and the way it makes certain areas smell like human piss while walking down the sidewalk. I’ve come to learn those aren’t just dirty puddles — they are piss puddles. Public restrooms don’t really exist here, so as a woman you are out of luck, and as a man if you have anywhere you please because it is not illegal to pee in public. When I told him about the strict laws regarding this topic in the states he said he wished the state of Pará would do the same because he said he knows that would be the only way to fix the problem. He said it is embarrassing when people come here only to find corners and random walls smelling of piss all over Belém. Now I really am sure to wash my feet upon returning to the hotel.

Day Seis: Swimming in the Amazon River (and VIDEO)

No, there weren’t any anacondas around or other obscure creatures in the water—the only animals that seemed to be around were stray dogs. Today, I swam in the Amazon River after an hour to two-hour boat ride to this remote island near Belém. It was not part of our class, but something we all decided to do. This day quickly became one of my favorites once we landed onto the island and got to walk through some parts of the forest — an up close and personal look at the real Amazon.

As I lay out in the sun after taking a dip in the shallow river, I could hear drums off in the distant from some neighboring house. There are small communities on the islands, of course, and the travel by bicycle and dirt bike along the river’s edge. The boat we took also helps supply the people there with whatever goods they need as they throw out plastic bags out onto the river where different canoes of sorts standby waiting for the goods all along the river. Some houses are on stilts and I am unsure of accessibility to electricity—in most places it seems unlikely. Generators are probably used only when necessary.

I made some friends after being bold enough on the boat ride to get up with the dancers and bust some moves with them. They all complemented me on my dancing via sign language and what English they did know. Brasilian men know how to dance, which makes me think this is where I belong!

My skin hurts. As many times as I liberally covered myself in sun block, I am still a fried banana. The quest for aloe vera once we got back was the most interesting, but then again people here don’t sunburn it seems really. A climate of year-round sun keeps their pigment protected against such irritating skin. I finally found some aloe vera/mint concoction at Big Ben—which is located all over Belém. Big Ben is a strange little store. It is like a mini-mart in some ways, but is more like a pharmacy in reality. It doesn’t sell water or snacks and it doesn’t sell cigarettes, but if you need condoms, baby wipes, shampoo or some Guaraná soda (Brasilian soda which is, ahh, way better than any sodas in Estados Unidos) Big Ben is the place to go.

Day Cinco: Jesuits and Cannons

There are two institutions that have dark architecture many times used to scare its viewers: military establishments and churches. Oh how I wish I could have taken photos inside the oldest church of Brasil at the Complexo Feliz Luzitȃna, which is an entire complex that formed the cities first buildings: The Nativity Fort, House of the 11 Windows, the Cathedral and the Church of Saint Alexander (the oldest church).

All of the carvings and sculptures of different saints and “nossas senhoras” (our sisters) and lets not forget Jesus himself, while they are intricate and amazing historical artifacts, are intimidating and strike fear within any onlooker. Then one walks over to the fort and the cannons there have the same type of effect. Early to mid-17th Century art and architecture is apparent here in Belém against any of the newer buildings, though mostly everything here is older. Below is the Church of Saint Alexander.

The church is no longer used as such but is strictly a museum and sometimes a classical music venue. There was an entire room filled with silver artifacts. Silver gauntlets, crowns, spoons, etc. -- all of the extravagances of the Portuguese Jesuits who forced the natives in Brasil, after training them of course, to carve and build the fortress, church and cathedral. The amount of carving and building that had to be done took almost twenty years to complete. Then they forced the natives to attend these churches for fear of punishment. Religion is a very dark part of human history and sadly by our choice continues to be — it has only caused death and tragedy. Below is the cathedral, which is currently under renovation so we could not enter.

VIDEO: Brazil's biodiversity battle

Day Quatro: Bug bites, trash and graffiti

The strange bug bite on my leg is finally healing; its strange lines were beginning to worry me. The rain today kept us inside. Nothing much was done other than working on our stories for class, which can be read below. It’s late and I’m tired, as is everyone else here. Today we walked to find some lunch, in which we finally ended up at Yyamada since it was the only thing open on this Brasilian holiday celebrating the last supper. Yyamada is like the Brasilian Wal-Mart: always open and always packed and full of cheap prices, such as the rubber sandals I bought today for six American dollars. (Probably would have cost me at least 15 in the states.)

While we walked I decided I did not want to fool my readers, family and friends with all of these pictures and descriptions of green foliage and beauty. Brasil is full of natural wonders, it is also filled with trash. Graffiti covers every wall (not that I am against it, graffiti does change the feel of any city). Trash piles are on every block and last night when walking home from the funky bar and restaurant, sewer rats roamed the streets and two-foot deep sewage drains on the sides of streets. When dropping down from the sidewalk to the street one must take extreme caution to not fall in these, as the green, egg-smelling water and sewer rats may have you in for a surprise once your foot reaches the bottom.

All of the puddles here generally have strange smells. It rains every day, even if only for a few minutes, but even then the streets become filled with water making washing the feet back at the hotel first priority.

The bar and restaurant we went to last night, Favela, was the “coolest” bar I’ve been to. Everything looked like it was made out of recycled materials (I don’t personally have any photos as I don’t like to take my camera with me when we go out at night). The lamp shades were made of cotton sweat pants and the wall from old televisions with multi-colored lights behind them. The menus were made from different scraps of fabric as well as the wallpaper.

We met our professor there at 7:30 and even after he left around 10 or so, we ended up ordering round after round until about 2, which was just when the Brasilians were starting to party. We left as the band was starting to play and people were starting to dance, but we started our party far to early to keep up with them. By the end of the night between 12 people we managed to rack up a bill of R$707, which is about $350 in American dollars. At first glance the price looked bad, but everything is about half of what it is in reals (sounds like rios). To Brasilians, however, this is obviousely not their mind-set, so we look like rich Americans coming through blowing the place out. Today when I went to Yyamada the cashier asked me how many installments I would like to make since it was a purchase over one hundred reals. I couldn’t believe that a retail store would have this option as this would never be the case in the states.

ARTICLE 1: Understanding Brazil's biodiversity battle: A social and environmental struggle

By Joanne Tucker and Kendra Ablaza

Recent efforts to improve Brazil’s Amazon forest have not gone unnoticed as the environmental minister Carlos Minc and president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed two different government acts to help thwart environmental crimes last Friday.

At the World Environment Day in Caravelas, Brazil, the Community and Family-based Forest Management Programme and a National Policy for Payment for Environmental Services were signed by the president and minister in order to draft a bill to be sent to the Brazilian National Congress.

According to the Ministry of Environment Web site, “payment for environmental services is a viable solution for recuperating degraded areas, since it allows populations involved in environmental crimes to find different ways of guaranteeing their livelihood without harming the environment.”

Social issues are only one factor of Brazil’s biodiversity battle. While most research in Brazil on specific species of plants and animals and their role in Amazon ecosystems have taken place within the last two decades, such as research on the jaguar, there are few actual regulations set in place to protect the intricacy of the jungle and its inhabitants, according to Antonio Messias Costa, the Museu Paraense Emilio Goelde veterinarian and zoobotanist in Belém, Brazil.

In 1992, the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) took place in Rio de Janeiro and was opened for signature. A main focus of the CBD is to ensure that thorough research is being done in different regions on what are considered domestic or invasive plant and animal species.

This in depth research must be done in order for nations like Brazil to enforce more strict regulations on the use of plants and animals. Recording and gathering this information is important for both regulating biological invaders and to figure out how to cease the reduction of biological diversity.

All countries except for the United States, Iraq and Somalia have signed since, according to the CBD Web site.

The CBD Web site describes biological invaders as those that “cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect human health. In particular, they impact adversely upon biodiversity, including decline or elimination of native species — through competition, predation, or transmission of pathogens — and the disruption of local ecosystems and ecosystem functions.”

Brazil has five known biological invaders according to Messias Costa and Francesca Gherardi, a professor of zoology and conservation biology at the University of Florence in Italy. These species include the tilapia, an African fish, a Malaysian shrimp, a soft-shelled turtle, red piranhas and a species of slug.

By 1998, Brazil’s Ministry of Environment created the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action plan, which started and expounded upon several policies already set in place, one of which focuses on “the strengthening of regional cooperation concerning biodiversity issues,” according to the ministry’s Web site.

Projects are also aimed at protecting species within the Brazilian Atlantic forest, which now is less than 8 percent of its original area, according the CBD Web site.

Research can be difficult on the effect of the reduction of native plant and animal species on the rest of the environment, such as sparse top predators like the jaguar in the Amazon. “Because of [the presence of] white man and Indians; it can’t necessarily be affirmed,” Messias Costa said.

The jaguar, an endangered species in the Amazon, plays an intricate role within food webs in this environment. However, Messias Costa said that the presence of humans in this area especially the indigenous peoples located there make it difficult to measure what this is doing to the rest of the ecosystem. Humans consume many of the same species normally eaten by jaguars, such as the white pig.

When trying to examine this effect in the wild, it would seem that the depleting jaguar population would have a negative effect on lower parts of food chains, Messias Costa said, but that the efforts made in recent research has not yet been conclusive.

At the 1992 CBD a 2010 target was made by those countries that signed. According to the CBD Web site, “The Project for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Brazilian Biodiversity supports the elaboration of a national report on invasive alien species, which will compile important information on the country’s needs and priorities.”

The main goal of this 2010 target is to map out different species in order to figure out not only issues with biological invaders but to ensure solutions for groups who rely on certain plants and animals for survival. Social effects are more easily measured that those in the wild.

Messias Costa said that to solve the environmental issues, the Brazilian government must solve socioeconomic issues, as well. This played a large factor in the World Environment Day and the policies signed by the minister and president.

Messias Costa is soon going on a 10-day excursion to a remote Amazon tribe to help teach them how to subsist on different resources other than what their heritage usually survives on. He said he will be there with biologists and anthropologists in order to understand not only the requirements of the environment but also the tribe’s culture.

According to the Ministry of Environment Web site, the CBD is “ ‘Conscious of the intrinsic value of biodiversity and ecological values, socially, economically, scientifically, educationally, culturally, recreationally and aesthetically when it comes to biological diversity and its components.’ ”

Taking a holistic approach to environmental reform must be taken in countries like Brazil because many facets of Brazilian culture depend on its resources as it is an export-driven country, unlike the United States and other more developed regions.

Come 2010 when those countries participating will reconvene for the CBD, the Brazilian government must report and make conclusions not only by taking into consideration its environmental impact, but the economic and social impacts future policy-making will incur.

Note: the Web site’s cited have been translated from Portuguese to English via Google Translator.

Day Tres: A green sea of foliage

The men in Brasil like tocos, according to the veterinarian Antonio Messias Costa at the Museu Paraense Emilio Goelde, a zoobotanical park. Tocos, means butt. Why were talking about butts and boobs with this park vet is only a small glimpse of the fascination Brasilian men have for women — and not in the American sense. Not to say crimes against women don’t happen here, love and relationships seem much simpler than in the states, and they are much more respectful too. People even take not only the last name of their father, but of their mother, making it a two-word last name standard.

You also must kiss on both cheeks before saying goodbye, if you don’t, then you must not like this person and it is a sign of possible disgust. Hugs don’t happen that often, but personal boundaries in general are much closer here than in Estados Unidos. I like this cheek-kissing thing, except for when the old-man vet almost kissed me on the lips before I could turn my cheek just slightly before they landed. I wasn’t sure what to make of this, nor anyone else who saw. I think he enjoyed the fact that I am an anthropology major—who knows — but he likes tocos that is for sure.

The Amazon produces some of the most beautiful vegetation. At this conservatory-type museu (museum), where spider monkeys, jaguars (one of which had a very sad obsession with masturbating because of a human training it do so before the museu retrieved the abused animal) and a giant otter bask in the humid Amazonian air, amongst many other Amazon animalia.

The most impressive to me was the greenery. While only a small portion of the Amazon exists today because of deforestation and the biodiversity there decreases, at quick glance it seems 10 times more diverse than forests, say, in the Sierra-Nevadas. Maybe it is only because all of these plant species are new to my eyes and therefore it seems like a lot, but either way they beauty of the environment here is without words.

It is sad to say not much is done, or at least enforced/mandated to keep the Amazon’s allure intact. There is support in the northeastern part of Brazil, but as Messias Costa, outside of this area there is not a lot of support because many of the indigenous and impoverished families utilize the Amazon not only as resources but as economic stability. Because so many places are extremely hard to get to, it is hard to regulate what goes on there. How do you control a jungle?

Day Dois: Beleza pura

The ecology in Estados Unidos is nothing compared to Brasil, especially the Amazon. The amount of biodiversity, as it is the highest in the world, is beleza pura — pure beauty! It is a shame to see it not necessarily unappreciated by its own inhabitants, but not treated with the same respect one might see in America. To me, this seems as the most difficult thing in Belém to deal with — not language barriers, not the crime — but a respect for the ground they are walking on.

While everyone stares at our American group wherever we are walking, occasionally being called gringas (not a bad term, but just a name for complete foreigners that don’t speak any Portuguese), the people are friendly — especially those who speak English. English-speaking Brasilians are always telling me they want to talk and practice their English, and if they haven’t been to Estado Unidos, it is their life goal to do so.

Today, for example, while getting lunch at the big shopping mall, a woman noticed Alex and I did not speak any Portuguese, thus we were having problems ordering our meals with a cashier who refused to speak any slower. She asked us if we needed help and ordered our meals for us. She left and then came right back to invite us to her table. We asked her if she was sure and she was only but ecstatic because she said she doesn’t get to practice her English very often. She had impeccable English, and better speaking-grammar than me. She actually teaches English here in Belém. When talking about possible travel to the states, she said she wanted to go to California because of the television show, The OC—I quickly explained to her that while California is the best state out of all of them, the show is not a very accurate interpretation of life in California. We talked about the weather and diversity of California, while she grinned incessantly and kept saying how she wants to travel there when she has the dinheiro (money).

The prices here are also wonderful, even the shopping mall, the Iguatemi shopping mall, where the more affluent Brasilians go, everything costs about half of what one would pay in America. Last night we went out for drinks and dinner with Joao and Julian at the Estação das Docas where Amazon Brewpub is located and other restaurants. According to its website, it gathers 6,000 daily visitors and has generated tens of millions of dollars for city since its more recent construction. One can also count a good dozen couples smooching along the docas.

One thing Julian told me last night that really stuck with me when we were discussing the difference between American and Brasilian government, in his somewhat broken English, he said that Brasil sells everything that is good in this country, leaving the people here with what’s left at the end. He said the people here are the last priority of the Brasilian government.

While countries like Estados Unidos exploit developing countries and strip them of their natural resources it seems as though it is a vicious cycle — where does it end?

Day Um: Chaos

After having the first night in the hotel eating Brasilian pizza post a two-hour wait because of miscommunication, we went to the market in downtown Brasil located right at the mouth of the Amazon River — the brownest river I have ever seen. The fish market's stench combined with all of the naturally made perfumes (the natural Viagra was my personal favorite) made for a usual and curious aroma. Belém, established as a military force in colonial times, harbors many structures from the 17th century, some of which were closed today but we at least got to see the outside — another day we will venture there again.

Thankfully, my first day here while waiting for everyone else to arrive I met a couple of local boys who speak English, Joao and Julian. They have been making sure all of us girls, and the one guy, Dan the Man, are safe and enjoying ourselves.

Our first speaker in our Global Media course, Jose Benatti, the president of the Institute for Land in the State of Pará (ITERPA), discussed the many current issues and conflicts in the state of Pará (where Belém is located) that have to do with land use and allocation. While so many Americans argue that the reason our country is so “great” is because of our small government. But what I have realized is that it is our government that allows such a comfortable lifestyle. An easy example would be the trash in the streets and rivers. Without strict enforcement it is easy to evade laws in Belém, whether it is traffic, environmental, criminal, etc. While I have always considered myself a conservative democrat, I am only realizing more and more that without the big government in Estado Unidos, we would not be able to have the luxuries we enjoy every day. Poverty here is the average, at 45 percent of the 7 million inhabitants of Brasil living below the poverty line. The middle class here (which is even smaller than the middle class in Estado Unidos) is comparable to those living below the poverty line in the states. While I always considered myself educated when it came to knowing and realizing that Americans are spoiled, as I have seen videos of developing countries, read news stories and seen the pictures, it is not something one can truly understand until watching the stray dogs roam the streets aimlessly and birds float on trash down the Amazon River. People here are colorful but it seems (from those I have met that do speak English) are fearful of their own streets. This is not something we can fully relate to, even in Los Angeles or New York City.

Belem, Brasil

As someone who has never traveled outside of the United States, where I have grown up for the past 20 years, I have taken a step beyond my usual path. Belem, Brasil summoned me when I saw an offer for a study abroad global media course at Cal State Long Beach for environmental ad science journlalism. Not only did the Amazon strike my attention, but the special topic of the course had me e-mailing the professor that day to sign up--whether I had the money or not at the time, I knew I was going to Brasil. I am a physical anthropology major and journalism minor with the hopes to someday be a science journalist for a science magazine or newspaper science section. This blog will be a daily documentation of my stay here, from experiences to the what I am learning in the class and just my daily thought.