We interviewed 2 young activists, an Indigenous woman about the current problems faced in the environment, especially changes in land and forests and a young businessman who works in the recycling and circular economy sector.
Julie Dorrico – Indigenous Woman
“A democratic country must respect its biomes.”
- Please tell us your name, your age and gender, what country you are from and what your current level of education is.
Morî pe nan? (“How are you?” in Macuxi language). My name is Julie Dorrico, I am 31 years old and I am an Indigenous woman. I graduated in 2021, in the Doctorate in Letters at PUCRS.
- Why do you think climate change is such an important issue today?
Climate change is an important issue today because it speaks to the quality of life on a global level. Not just Indigenous peoples, but the present and future of diverse human and non-human populations living on earth. The ecological impacts in the world are not restricted to just one explored site, but affect different communities across the globe: it is the case of Lethen (Guyana) whose flood is displacing Macuxi and Wapishana families from their homes; and even Recife (Brazil) which is in the same situation of calamity.
- Please tell us about the work young people are doing in your community to address climate change.
I am a writer and researcher of Indigenous literature. As a researcher, I was able to observe that we, not so young, Indigenous peoples have made an effort to identify in Indigenous books the ways of giving meaning to the world of each of the peoples that we have come to know. This is because, although different cosmovision, they all consecrate the earth. In this sense, respect, care, reverence for the land is a principle that our grandparents, our uncles, our mothers are committed to obeying. Obedience here not in the institutional sense, but in the cultural sense, of the people, who learned from the ancients. Here, you can follow tips from Indigenous authorship that talk about the human relationship with the spirits of the forest and the reason why we don’t see it as a resource: Tips from indigenous authorship for you to read in the publication Environment Week – 06/09/2021 – UOL ECOA.
- How do you think the work you are doing is making a difference?
I believe that my research and work are seeds that I hope to sprout someday. My literary and research work invites Indigenous people to play a leading role in a place not historically occupied by us, a symbolic place in literature to contest the dominant narratives that Brazil was a great demographic void, that trees are for exporting, and that mining is positive. We have always been here, with our beliefs and spirits; trees are our oldest relatives; and gold, as taught by the Yanomami shaman, Davi Kopenawa, must remain under the waters to support the sky. We who live in the city struggle to build ancestral images, to show that our ways of life are collective and that everyone benefits from them.
- Do you think your country is doing the best it can to deal with climate change? If not, what else could you be doing?
The current Bolsonaro government gives rise to a policy of exploitation, as we have seen throughout Brazilian colonization, but more recently in the Military Dictatorship that preached a development policy without commitment to indigenous peoples, or even to the forest. The current government could encourage protection policies, but it transmits an impassioned speech of destruction. By attacking the forest, it attacks the lives of Indigenous peoples. A democratic country must respect its biomes. Some countries already consider the forest to be protected by law, I think that this path, despite this government, is inevitable.
- What are the biggest obstacles facing your country and the world in tackling climate change?
A legislature that proposes laws that violate the Constitution in protecting the forest, such as the most recent proposed Law 13.874/2019. We need resolutions that respect human and non-human life are urgent in Brazil and in the world. The film Awake: a dream from standing rock shows that the impacts of mining and pipelines are real and lasting and affect everyone’s lives.
- Do you think the global warming problem will be solved within your lifetime?
Unfortunately, not. But we will keep fighting.
Alexandre Furlan – Instituto Muda
“If everyone does their part, the world would really be able to overcome this issue of climate change.”
- Please tell us your name, your age and gender, what country you are from and what your current level of education is.
Hello! My name is Alexandre Furlan Braz, I am 34 years old I am cisgender man and I have a degree in Environmental Management from SENAC.
- Why do you think climate change is such an important issue today?
This topic has been debated since 1970, where they predicted that if we continued with this level of pollution, level of consumption, it would affect future generations. Environmental management talked about global warming, in fact I think the current concept is really climate change. Everything is changing due to all the impact that man is generating on Earth. So too many extremes. Too cold, too hot, snow. The weather is crazy. It’s completely extreme and really due to all this environmental impact for various reasons. Today, something that most impacts the world is the issue of meat consumption. If you compare it with the pollution that comes out of cars, it is immensely greater.
- Please tell us about the work young people are doing in your community to address climate change.
One point that affects climate change is the issue of waste. Even in landfills which are places where waste management is more professional, you end up generating methane which is one of the contributors to climate change. I am the founder and current CEO of Grupo Muda, a company that works with the implementation of selective waste collection in residential condominiums.
- How do you think the work you are doing is making a difference?
We talked about the implementation in condominiums that did not yet have the system, so their waste all goes to the landfill, and it will be accumulated there for a long time, it will not degrade, because it is mixed with a lot of other waste and will generate methane, which generates climate change. Let’s take the example of the PET bottle. It would go to the landfill, and then go back to being a PET bottle. So, if you compare the production of a PET bottle with virgin plastic versus recycled plastic, you have a much lower CO2 emission with a PET bottle, you consume less water, you consume less energy, which obviously brings benefits in terms of climate change.
- Do you think your country is doing the best it can to deal with climate change? If not, what else could you be doing?
No. To solve climate change, we have the issue of accelerated growth that the world is experiencing. The only thing that really stopped the world was COVID19. Planes stopped flying, people stopped traveling, the world stopped. And it was noticed that there was an absurd decrease in the environmental impact. Several places began to see clearer skies. Cleaner rivers because industrial activity had decreased. But the big problem is that the world doesn’t stop growing. So, what you need now is to find a way to grow more sustainably, with greater circularity of packaging and less meat consumption. With less CO2 emission. And I think that “plant based” foods are bringing a new reality to the world to really reduce meat consumption.
- What are the two biggest obstacles facing your country and the world in tackling climate change?
We need today to have a greater environmental impact with the existing technology to have a much more sustainable world. For example, photovoltaic energy. It would already reduce the carbon footprint a lot, obviously it would improve climate change a lot.
- Do you think the global warming problem will be solved within your lifetime?
If each person manages to solve a little of the climate issues in their home, in their personal life, the problem will be solved soon. It’s no use depending only on companies and the government; change starts at home. Each person needs to reduce their ecological footprint. If everyone does their part, the world would really be able to overcome this issue of climate change.
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Brazil Country Manager Carlos Alexandre de Oliveira