🌳 Arbor Day
This Wednesday, September 21st, Arbor Day is celebrated in Brazil.
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The trees are essential for the balance of our planet. They are capable of carrying out photosynthesis and, thus, absorbing sunlight and carbon dioxide from the air, releasing oxygen gas.
For the environment, trees serve as shelter for a large number of living beings. Furthermore:
- capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, functioning as carbon reservoirs;
- provide food for various living organisms, including us humans;
- help prevent soil erosion;
- are responsible for improving relative air humidity due to evapotranspiration;
- in forests they release a large amount of water through evaporation, helping to form rain and regulate the climate;
- provide shade that helps reduce the temperature of the room. (Greenpeace)
For so many reasons It is essential to preserve trees!
However, there is not much to celebrate given that deforestation in the Amazon in August this year exploded compared to the same month last year. 1.661 km² of forest were felled, an increase of 81% compared to 2021 data. The value is the second highest in the biome's recent history. The deforested area is comparable to the size of the city of São Paulo.
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A study released this Wednesday (21) by the Institute of Man and the Environment of the Amazon (Imazon) reveals that illegal logging increased 11 times on indigenous lands in Pará.
The increase in the invasion of loggers in indigenous lands in the region has threatened the lives of several people and caused damage to the biodiversity of the forest. The data comes from a survey by the Simex Network, integrated by four environmental institutions: Imazon, Idesam, Imaflora and ICV.
According to the publication, the area under logging in the state's indigenous territories increased from 158 hectares between August 2019 and July 2020 to 1.720 hectares between August 2020 and July 2021. In other words: the area affected by illegal activity within these protected areas grew by 1.000%. (imazon)
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🌱 How companies use social media to 'go green'
An image that shows a plane with a shark's tail, hashtags that misleadingly evoke clean energy, images of nature being abusively bombarded...
A report by researchers at Harvard University (Greenpeace🇬🇧), released this Tuesday (20), reveals companies' practices for “going green” on social media.
The search, commissioned by the environmental organization Greenpeace (*), analyzed in the months of June and July texts and images from more than 2.300 publications from around 20 European companies, including the largest automakers, airlines and oil and gas companies.
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"This summer, when Europe was experiencing record temperatures and wildfires, these companies kept silent about climate change and continued with what we interpret as brand positioning“, the main author of the work, Geoffrey Supran, told AFP.
Entitled "Three Shades of Green(washing)“, the report shows that one in five of these companies broadcast messages about sporting events or social causes, instead of showing what they were selling.
The term “greenwashing” refers to marketing strategies that seek to create an image of environmental responsibility for a company or product.
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Among other examples, the report describes how on Instagram a Lufthansa plane merged with the body of a shark in the ocean to highlight a material that imitates the animal's skin and is used to improve aerodynamics.
On Twitter, Lufthansa and Air France used the hashtag #SustainableAviationFuel (sustainable aviation fuel), not to mention that it is only a small part of the total used by the industry, highlights the document.
A publication by the company Wizz Air – on the occasion of World Environment Day – showed an elderly black woman, part tree, part person, standing in a lush forest, to promote an article on how to reduce private energy consumption, a practice common, which aims to “redirect responsibility” to individual behaviors rather than governments or industry, according to the report.
The researchers “observed strong affective responses from consumers to images of nature”, explained Supran. “This can suggest that a company is greener than it appears in subtle ways that can mislead even the most critical observers.”
According to Silvia Pastorelli, from Greenpeace, the report reveals “a systematic effort to greenwashing, which will be combated through a legal ban on fossil fuel advertising or sponsorship across Europe, as was done with tobacco.”.
🍃 Worried about the pessimism of younger people, ecologists want to give hope
Concerned about the pessimism of younger people, activists against climate change are now looking for ways to transform their apocalyptic messages with examples of hope, through social media.
A recent survey – of young people aged 16 to 25 in 10 countries – found that almost 60% are very concerned about climate change.
Against this backdrop, activist and scientist Alaina Wood sits in front of her camera every morning to broadcast “good climate news” to your audience on the TikTok platform.
@thegarbagequeen #goodclimatenews brought to you by @pique_action
♬ original sound – Alaina Wood
Its aim is to reassure you that it is not too late to combat the global warming.
The message from the highest authorities is, however, not very encouraging.
The planet burns
“Trust is crumbling, inequalities are soaring, our planet is burning, people are suffering, especially the most vulnerable”, warned the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on Tuesday (20), when opening the annual assembly of the United Nations.
Wood, who at age 26 presents himself as an expert in sustainability and recycling systems, has 300 followers.
"If I'm going to talk about the difficult reality that surrounds us, I also have to give something to combat anxiety“, explains the American environmentalist to AFP.
It's a difficult balance between the avalanche of alarming news about heatwaves, wildfires or devastating floods attributed to climate change, and the need to prevent demobilization or radicalization at the grassroots.
Wood talks in his videos both about the successes in recovering endangered species and about the technological changes that are helping, for example, to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of cement manufacturing.
"Even my most optimistic followers are becoming apocalyptic because of all the climate disasters, and I don't know what to do.”, Wood confessed on Twitter in late August.
🎵 “The Future is ancestral”: a partnership between the UN Global Compact and DJ Alok
"The Future is ancestral”, a project coordinated by DJ Alok, brings together electronic music with indigenous songs and should be launched in 2023.
All funds from the action will be allocated to indigenous initiatives in the Amazon and the rest of Brazil.
Nessa statement to UN News, last week, Alok spoke about the relevance of an unprecedented project from Brazil to the world, uniting these musical contexts.
“I think that at a time when the UN is debating several very important issues in relation to climate change and global warming, their presence here is very necessary, as they are true guardians. We often talk a lot about preservation, but we don't really understand nature. We disconnected from it a long time ago. A cool way to connect with the forest is to listen to what it has to say. A good way to do this is through indigenous songs. That’s it, mayor, we’re here to make people feel.” (UN News)
O Curto Verde is a daily summary of what you need to know about the environment, sustainability and other topics linked to our survival and that of the planet.
(With AFP)
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