Deforestation in Brazil: Cutting down on cutting down

by Brenda Yun on

Hooray! Brazil has supposedly implemented a plan that will cut down on deforestation of the Amazons. This plan will purportedly reduce deforestation by 70 percent over the course of 10 years. With just one look at the rate of deforestation in this country, we can see how this plan is about five years too late, but it’s better late than never.

The world as we know it is rapidly changing and the things we see in ten years will no longer be as we see them today. That is certain, but what isn’t is what will become of those precious natural gems such as South America’s Amazon region — a majority of which is located in Brazil.According to most environmentally conscious individuals, the rate of deforestation in Brazil appears to correlate directly with the economic health of the country. In times of rapid growth, Brazil’s Amazon region suffers; and when its economy is struggling, the region thrives.

That is only part of the picture, however. The rest of the puzzle has to do with what Time Magazine calls “The Clean Energy Scam.” Farmers interested in entering the clean energy market are turning the Amazon rainforest into soybean fields. These fields will later be converted into biofuel — a “green” product, yes, but one that is not “green” for the environment. In fact, the “savannization” of the Amazons is downright destructive and anti-environment.

While I really hope Brazil gets its act together to correct its anti-environment policies, I am doubtful that they can follow through with this deforestation plan. Of course, I do hope I’m proven wrong. In ten years, I would still like to see the Brazilian Amazon — not a Brazilian soybean field in its place.

What can we do to see that this new plan remains in tact? Brazil’s Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, says the Amazon Fund, an initiative implemented earlier this year to gather funds for the preservation of the country’s Amazon region, must be a top priority. Brazil hopes to begin using the Fund’s money next year.

Push up bandit breaks the law by doing push ups on a Santa Monica median

by Jamie Rhein on

All Jim Birch wanted to do was a bit of exercise. He’s been exercising for years on the 4th Street median in Santa Monica. As I posted earlier, people are getting cited and fined for such unruly behavior. Doing any sort of exercise except for jogging or walking is not allowed on the medians anymore.

Birch and others aren’t too happy about that. This video is a lighthearted, but sort of serious faux newscast where Birch stages a protest by doing a bit of exercising so he can get arrested–kind of. This is such a Santa Monica scene.

Look for the part in the video of people exercising on the sidewalk. There’s even a yoga mat.

November is National Adoption Month and a traveler’s tale

by Jamie Rhein on

Only today and tomorrow are left in National Adoption Month. If it weren’t for traveling, perhaps I wouldn’t have a reason to notice this detail. On my first trip to Vietnam with my husband back in the mid-90’s, we met two couples who were in the process of adopting a baby. One couple was French. I can’t remember where the other couple was from.

Every day they left the hotel where we were all staying to fill out paperwork–or take care of whatever details they had to finish in order to be able to take their babies out of Vietnam.

As a person who always wanted to adopt, there was a small seed planted the first time I saw the French mother lean over her baby and tuck a blanket around the sleeping form. My husband had the same seed start to grow as well.

Two years later, there we were heading to Vietnam again to see about finding our own child. This was a vague plan since we were living in Singapore at the time and weren’t quite sure what we were doing.

When we we first saw our daughter, it was the middle of December more than a dozen years ago. Seven months later, she became part of our family. Believe me, the story is a bit longer than that. Since that time we’ve been back to Vietnam many times and have had our world expand far more than we could have imagined.

Anyone who has spent time at an American or international school knows that ours is not an unusual story. Many people who live overseas adopt children. Perhaps this is because once families know several people who have adopted, adoption seems like a feasible endeavor. I don’t know if this is true, it’s just a thought.

The combinations of families I knew ranged from a single woman who adopted two children, to a family with several birth children who wanted to expand, to a couple with a high school-age son who was blessed with the addition of a young toddler-aged daughter. Each of these families were fantastic and the children have thrived. If it weren’t for my husband’s and my traveling ways, we wouldn’t have met any of them–and we wouldn’t have our own bundle of joy who is now 16. For any of you with teenagers, you know how that goes. Seriously, she’s a gem. Seriously. No, seriously.

For information about adoption, the National Adoption Center Web site might be a place to start.

Give a Toy and Get a Smile: a charity organization in Cancun that helps tourists give

by Jamie Rhein on

Last March I went to Mexico on a do-good travel venture which involved building a house. Here is a simpler way to do good if you are heading to Cancun, Mexico on a vacation and want to share your good fortune at being able to afford such a vacation in the first place.

When I read about this program in Home and Away magazine, it caught my attention as one way to count blessings while on a holiday jaunt. As a response to the often impoverished conditions outside tourist resorts in Cancun, Andrew and Nancy Myers began Give a Toy, Get a Smile. The organization gives toys to children in the region who may not have many toys, if any at all.

The suggestion of the organization is that you add hair ribbons, non-battery operated or non-electrical toys, school supplies, a backpack, or any other simple and useful item a child might enjoy to your bag when you pack. When you arrive in Cancun, you can drop off the items at a specific location.

In case you get to Cancun and don’t have items to donate, it’s not too late. Buy school supplies at a local store and donate those. There was a small grocery store near the house that I helped to build. The house was not really in a town, but perched up on mountainous area about thirty miles from Tijuana. Among the shelves, I saw items a child would enjoy. I imagine that while you are in Cancun you can find a box of crayons somewhere.

Here are more ideas for what you might bring to donate if you feel so moved.

Instead of boycotting Utah, here’s an opposite idea. If you’re gay, head there in droves

by Jamie Rhein on

Although the boycott of Utah could cost the state a bundle in tourism dollars if it’s a success–and if it’s happening–here’s another idea to make an impact. Scott McCoy, an openly gay senator in Utah, has suggested that people who are gay should head to Utah in droves. I read about McCoy’s views in this Seattle Times article.

The idea McCoy had when he heard about the ban is to show folks in Utah that gay people and gay families are genuine and wonderful people. By showing up in Utah and doing vacation like things, these families would in essence be educating people about the need gay families have for equal rights under the law just like other families.

Reading McCoy’s take on the boycott reminded me about my experience at Kings Island this past August during Gay Pride Night. I went with my brother, his friend and my daughter. As I stood in line to ride the Firehawk, the roller coaster you ride mostly on your stomach, and looked at the other people in line, I thought how utterly common a scene it was. Shorts, T-shirts, sneakers, middle-aged paunches on some, better haircuts on others, talking, laughing, smiling, and visiting. When it stopped raining and all the rides were a go, the joy felt exactly the same on any other day when I’ve been to an amusement park in the rain. For some reason, give me a summer and I’ll go on the rainy day. It’s not planned that way, it just happens.

If I hadn’t known we were there on Gay Pride Night, I really wouldn’t have been able to tell. Maybe McCoy has a point. On the other hand, Colorado lost millions of dollars in the 80s when there was a similar boycott.

Peter Greenburg , the Today show’s travel guru, pointed out earlier this year before Prop 8 passed [see article] that with gay people being allowed to tie the knot in California, that state was going to be able to pull in serious bucks. I imagine these days, it’s good-bye dough to some extent.

Regardless of ones political or religious opinions, tourism is a powerful playmate when it comes to a state’s financial health.