John Novis, photographer for Greenpeace International, spent weeks living at the Yunnan province, China, amongst the local population and made a brilliant record of these farmers’ lifestyle, whose lives are intimately connected with rice farming. Their plantations, which spread over large areas and assure the livelihood of thousands of people, gave John the opportunity to see a rich traditional culture that, unfortunately, is under threat by the large corporations that want to seize control over the rice production.

Check out this slideshow, narrated by John, and its beautiful soundtrack to understand the details of this beautiful homage to farmers of China and the entire world.

Speaking of food, the New York Times published a very interesting piece this week about how the food industry leads consumers to eat things against their own will. Research by Dr. David Kessler, former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—the powerful American institution responsible for regulating drugs and food—and author of the book “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite,” shows that the food industry operates more or less like the tobacco industry.

According to Dr. Kessler, by combining fat, sugar and salt in different ways, food manufacturers were able to tap into our brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full.

In his book, Dr. Kessler admits: “I wouldn’t have been as interested in finding out why we can’t resist food if I didn’t suffer with this myself. I gained and lost weight several times over. I have suits in every size.”

The food industry is also the theme of a documentary that has been generating lots of debate in the United States. Food Inc. questions many procedures adopted by food manufacturers, a little along the lines of what films such as Super Size Me and Fast Food Nation have done, focusing not only on health and nutritional issues but also on ethical, environmental and political aspects.

It’s the same old story: to eat well, one has to be well informed.

I had never been to Belem. Even though I have relatives living there, I only took a trip to the Brazilian mango capital because of Greenpeace—there, mango trees are everywhere, delighting the population and terrorizing drivers. I felt as if I were home, especially because the locals stress the ‘S’ and the ‘R’ just like people from Rio de Janeiro. I found out that I have cousins in town, Ivanir and Dolores, lovely people. It was great to spend an afternoon with them, feasting on açai and bacuri and drinking cupuaçu juice while we listened to thousands of parakeets (or maritacas, who knows) that had built their nests on top of a huge tree just across from the Nossa Senhora de Nazaré Church and my cousins’ apartment building. I had a great time in Belem enjoying the heat, the refreshing afternoon rain, the richness of the local cuisine, the kindness of their people, the proximity to the Amazon Rainforest, the music (the local reggae is brilliant!).

I hope to return one day, preferably with my children.

Letting so much time pass without updating the blog is not a good idea because, in the meantime, so many things happen that it is hard to put them all in a post without making it too long and tiresome to read. Anyway, I’m going to open the floodgates on my memory and just let things flow, especially because I’m already in Fortaleza and need to get up early tomorrow to set up some interviews for my friend Baitelo, the star of this leg of the Save the Planet expedition. It’s Now or Now.

As I was saying, I spent an afternoon with my cousins, the children of my grandfather’s brother. I don’t know this part of the family, I mean, I knew about them, but had never really met them, except for that one time we had dinner at a pizza place, a year ago, during a trip they took to Sao Paulo. When my father reminded me of them, I called them up and made plans to meet for lunch, breakfast, visit the ship and everything, but what really worked was the “play by it ear” thing (as always). I went with Mari on foot to try to catch up with the march that had already left Docas Station. Midway, I remembered that my cousins lived in that area so I called them and we ended up watching part of the Latin American leftist march from the seventh floor of a building located across the church square. When Greenpeace’s huge inflatable bull emerged at the corner, we ran downstairs to catch a ride.

One of the things that surprised me the most in Belem was the kindness with which the locals welcomed Greenpeace.  Yes, there were some concerns about security, we were warned not to walk around the streets wearing our Greenpeace shirts, to ignore any provocations, etc.—after all, Para is among those states with the highest rates of deforestation where people who defend the forests are killed (even a missionary in her seventies like Dorothy Stang). But nothing happened, on the contrary. I saw people swearing their love to Greenpeace, begging for a shirt or at least a little ribbon, wanting to get on board regardless of the destination, demanding that we create a volunteer group in the city. We won them over—and they won us over.

I also fell in love with the local cuisine. I don’t care much for fish, but in Belem I practically ate only fish. Filhote ao tucupi, pirarucu with a bean salad, tambaqui and rice with jambu, and everything came with a generous side of manioc flour. By the way, the number of things we can do with manioc is impressive—flour, sauce, appetizers, dough, ice cream. It’s a gift. I also ate many times on the boat, great food, prepared by Iracema (from Manaus) and by a Filipino cook whose name I just can’t remember now (oops, my bad…) I really wanted to get on board and come to Fortaleza, but I was left out this time. Anyway, I had to arrive earlier to contact the media for all of the activities that we are conducting here in Ceara—in addition to the “open boats,” there is a seminar on wind energy and a meeting with Fortaleza’s restaurant and supermarket owners to show them the negative impacts of shrimp farming in the environment.  Maybe next time, who knows?

It’s a shame that I was unable to see more of the World Social Forum. I’ve only been there twice, only attended talks by Greenpeace, and had little contact with the other organizations present there. But the atmosphere was cool and very diverse. Highlights included the indigenous tribes in attendance and the large shed built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution. I hope that WSF will soon return to the Amazon.

Still in Belem, I met people that I hadn’t seen for a long time, like Oona, João and Sérgio Amadeu, who helped me organize a good farewell party for Greenpeace in the city—a show by Fernando, from Teatro Mágico, in front of the ship. The artist went for it immediately and the show was very cool—approximately 300 people gathered in front of the Arctic Sunrise. The video of this improvised soirée is down below. We are already planning on a repeat, just wait!

There were so many good vibrations that soon after we had a party at the ship’s heliport and, from there, we went to a street carnival, at Praça do Carmo, and stayed there until four in the morning. Since the night was young, we still had time to catch a performance by Juca Culatra and Power Trio, at Açaí Biruta. Great music! And it got even better when Fernando, who had joined us, was recognized by the guitar player and called onto the stage. They played a song from Teatro (I really don’t know which one) and the crowd cheered, just as like when the group started playing Umbabarauma, by Jorge Ben, to wrap up the presentation. I recorded a little bit; it’s down below too.

The sun rose, our energies vanished and we returned to the hotel feeling as light as feathers. On the next day, the ship’s last in Belem, everybody was tired, but happy. At the end of the day, we disassembled everything and stored it on the ship which, at this exact moment, is sailing to Fortaleza—it should arrive here on the 6th.

Well, if my fading memory didn’t fail me, this is more or less what I saw and experienced in these last few days.   Now it’s on to Fortaleza. Tomorrow I’m going to meet with my friend Sávio, who has left the good life in Sao Paulo to live an even greater life here, in the land of Sasha Grey. Right on!

I think this post is long enough to allow me to skip a few days without any postings, isn’t it? Anyway, let’s see what we can do. See ya!

(There was not enough time to upload the photos and videos of Juca Culatra. I’ll do it tomorrow.)

Teatro Mágico and Greenpeace together in Belém (January/2009)

Read this post at the O Escriba blog: Magic moments in Belem

O Escriba