As Earth Day approaches, we wanted to highlight a climate crisis that is impacting everyone, but not many are aware of. Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is expanding at a crippling rate, causing irreversible damage every day. Land is being taken over for agriculture and development that is destroying the natural ecosystems of Amazonia. Delve into our selection of books, TED Talks, and not-so-fun facts about the Amazon rainforest.
The following articles summarize the current crisis, if you’re looking for a brief but well informed read!
Why The Amazon Rainforest is Nearly Gone
Forests Burn, Soils Dwindle, and People Suffer
One River
Author: Wade Davis
Description: A stunning account of adventure and discovery, betrayal and destruction, One River is a story of two generations of explorers drawn together by the transcendent knowledge of Indian peoples, the visionary realms of the shaman, and the extraordinary plants that sustain all life in a forest that once stood immense and inviolable.
Where to Find: Visit lib.fsu.edu and use the Catalog Search feature to look up keywords from the book title. Set your search filters to “ebooks” to narrow down your search results. Use the link provided in the catalog to access the digital content.
DID YOU KNOW: According to satellite data, tropical forests are being destroyed at a rate of about 8 million hectares (31,000 square miles) a year — an area equivalent in size to the state of South Carolina or the Czech Republic.
Amazon Rainforest: Don’t Forget Your Passport
Films on Demand
Description: Follow an international TV crew on their adventure to document the rarely seen rain forest people deep in the interior of Ecuador and southern Peru. Host Norm Vidal finds acceptance among the shy and reclusive indigenous people. He sings, dances, and hunts with weapons made from the Aguaje palm near the Pastaza River. Norm learns the delicate art of silent death by blowpipe and shares his dreams during an ancient firelight ceremony.
Where to Find: Visit lib.fsu.edu and use the Catalog Search feature to look up keywords from the film title. Set your search filters to “electronic resources” to narrow down your search results. Use the link provided in the catalog to access the digital content.
DID YOU KNOW: The Brazilian Amazon is one of the largest areas of tropical forests at 395 million ha[1], and provides significant environmental services, including carbon sequestration and some of the world’s richest biodiversity[2]. The southern and eastern portions of the Amazon have faced high pressures in the last four decades. The biome is close to reaching a tipping point, at which the forest will no longer be able to sustain processes such as water recycling, that keep it alive[2], and the most affected portions will suffer diminished rainfall and prolonged dry seasons[3].
Amazonia
Author: Juan Carlos Galeano
Description: A bilingual collection of stories from Amazonia
Where to find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup, or Visit Juan Carlos Galeano’s page for PDF versions of his works under the section Poetry.
This was included as a suggestion from Juan Carlos from the Dept of Modern Languages
Saving the Amazon Together
Author: Rob Waring
Description: The Amazon rainforest is in crisis. Illegal miners are destroying the homes of millions of plants and animals; however, one group of scientists is exploring the far off regions of a newly formed national park to stop the destruction. How can they help to save the rainforest? Who will they get to help them?
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
DID YOU KNOW: People need oxygen to survive and the Amazon’s trees and plants are responsible for providing more than 20% of the world’s oxygen. That is why the Amazon was given the nickname, Lungs of the Planet.
The Decade of Destruction: The Crusade to Save the Amazon Rainforest
Author: Adrian Cowell
Description: Chronicles a decade of unprecedented destruction–all in the name of development–and its devastating effect on the global environment. In 1957, as part of a group of young filmmakers, Adrian Cowell made his first trip into the rainforests of Brazil. Thus began a lifelong love of the Amazon forests which has resulted in three books and three prize-winning documentaries. A long-time friend of Chico Mendes, Cowell’s latest work describes the crisis and offers hope for the future.
Where to Find: Physical copy is available at Strozier for Curbside Pickup.
The Trees have a mother : Amazonian cosmologies, folktales, and mystery
Description: In spite of mounting ecological damage, the Amazon Basin continues to nurture age-old stories and beliefs. This documentary illustrates the importance of indigenous narratives to those who dwell near the city of Iquitos, Peru, and view their natural surroundings in mythical terms. Concerning a young man who has recently gone missing in the forest, the film depicts his mother’s attempts to find him with the help of local shamans-resulting in various magical explanations for his disappearance and eventually producing a rich tapestry of tales and visions from all over the community.
Where to Find: Visit lib.fsu.edu and use the Catalog Search feature to look up keywords from the film title. Set your search filters to “electronic resources” to narrow down your search results. Use the link provided in the catalog to access the digital content.
This was included as a suggestion from Juan Carlos from the Dept of Modern Languages
DID YOU KNOW: About one quarter of the western medicine used today has ingredients that originated in the Amazon Rainforest. With so many unidentified trees and plants, it is logical to conclude that many more have medicinal value that has not yet been discovered. If deforestation continues, we may never know how many more have potential to help save lives.
Hopeful Lessons from the Battle to Save Rainforests
Speaker: Tasso Azevedo
Description: “Save the rainforest” is an environmental slogan as old as time — but Tasso Azevedo catches us up on how the fight is actually going these days. Spurred by the jaw-dropping losses of the 1990s, new laws (and transparent data) are helping slow the rate of deforestation in Brazil. Is it enough? Not yet. He has five ideas about what we should do next. And he asks if the lessons learned in Brazil could be applied to an even bigger problem: global climate change.
Where to Find: Follow the hyperlink above.
DID YOU KNOW: If the current rate of deforestation continues, it will take less than 100 years to destroy all the rainforests on the earth.
The Amazon belongs to humanity — Let’s Protect it Together
Speakers: Tashka and Laura Yawanawá
Description: Tashka and Laura Yawanawá lead the Yawanawá people in Acre, Brazil — a tribe that stewards almost 500,000 acres of Amazon rainforest. As footage of the Amazon burning shocks the world’s consciousness, Tashka and Laura call for us to transform this moment into an opportunity to support indigenous people who have the experience, knowledge and tools needed to protect the land.
Where to Find: Follow the hyperlink above.
DID YOU KNOW: 11% of the total carbon dioxide emission that is responsible for global warming comes from clearing down of the forests by burning the trees.
Folktales of the Amazon
Author: Juan Carlos Galeano
Description: This excerpt includes a foreword and introduction that delve into the background and basis of the Folktales of the Amazon.
Where to Find: Follow the hyperlink above.
This was included as a suggestion from Juan Carlos from the Dept of Modern Languages
The ecology of the spoken word : Amazonian storytelling and shamanism among the Napo Runa
Author: Michael Uzendoski
Description: In this selection, authors Michael Uzendoski and Edith Felicia Calapucha-Tapuy present and analyze lowland Quichua speakers in the Napo province of Ecuador through narratives, songs, curing chants, and other oral performances, so readers may come to understand and appreciate Quichua aesthetic expression.
Where to Find: Visit lib.fsu.edu and use the Catalog Search feature to look up keywords from the book title. Set your search filters to “ebooks” to narrow down your search results. Use the link provided in the catalog to access the digital content.
This was included as a suggestion from Juan Carlos from the Dept of Modern Languages
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster : The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
Author: Bill Gates
Description: In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. 51 billion to zero — Why zero? — This will be hard — Five questions to ask in every climate conversation — How we plug in — How we make things — How we grow things — How we get around — How we keep cool and stay warm — Adapting to a warmer world — Why government policies matter — A plan for getting to zero — What each of us can do.
Where to Find: Visit lib.fsu.edu and use the Catalog Search feature to look up keywords from the film title. Set your search filters to “electronic resources” to narrow down your search results. Use the link provided in the catalog to access the digital content.
This was included as a suggestion from our STEM LIbrarians.
DID YOU KNOW: Using bamboo instead of wood as a fuel is a better option for two reasons. Bamboos, on burning, cause lesser pollution than wood. Also, the bamboos so used can be replenished faster than the woods, and thus, the level of deforestation could also be reduced.
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