After Chico’s death, he became a martyr for the rainforest, and his work continued with significant success.
After Chico’s death, he became a martyr for the rainforest, and his work continued with significant success. But where is Chico’s name today? And why is it important that we remember his work?
Sources:
Jim VO: The funeral for Chico Mendes was held on Christmas Day, 1988, and it was a somber
affair (Revkin, The Burning Season).
Portuguese_Gomercindo Rodrigues_Interview Sync 012520:
E no dia do enterro dele, do cortejo fúnebre, chovia muito.
Jim Translation: And on the day of his funeral, the funeral procession, it rained a lot.
Jim VO: More than a thousand people gathered in the steady rain of the Amazon Rainforest
(Revkin, The Burning Season). Friends from Acre poured in to mourn their fallen hero, and
journalists, celebrities and politicians flew in from around the world (Revkin, The Burning
Season). The community of activists that Chico had built spanned continents, nationalities, and
ideologies (Revkin, The Burning Season). Rubber tappers mingled with international figures in
the small town for multiple days (Revkin, The Burning Season). It united the defenders of the
forest - they were heartbroken and thirsty for justice (Revkin, The Burning Season).
Portuguese_Gomercindo Rodrigues_Interview Sync 012520:
Todo mundo muito impactado, todo mundo muito atingido.
Jim Translation: Everyone was very impacted, very hurt.
Portuguese_Gomercindo Rodrigues_Interview Sync 012520:
E nós o enterramos.
Jim Translation: And we buried him.
[music beat]
Jim VO: In a letter to a friend before his death, Chico said: “I don’t want flowers at my funeral
because I know they would be taken from the forest.” (Mendes, Fight for the Forest) His heart
beat in rhythm with the swaying leaves and flowing rivers of his home - until that fateful day in
1988.
Portuguese_Gomercindo Rodrigues_Interview Sync 012520:
O Chico na última entrevista que ele deu a um Jornalista no Rio de Janeiro, dia 11 de dezembro
de 88. Ele disse que se um anjo descesse do céu e dissesse para ele, que a morte dele
ajudaria salvar a Amazônia, ele morreria de bom grato.
Jim Translation: The last interview Chico gave to a journalist in Rio de Janeiro, december, 11,
88. He said that if an angel would come down from heaven and say to him that his death would
help save the Amazon, he would die gratefully.
Jim VO: Everyone knew that Chico was prepared to make that ultimate sacrifice. But privately,
he felt he could be more effective alive than dead - that his fight might be lost if he was killed
(Mendes, Fight for the Forest). Before his death, he said “It is not with big funerals and
demonstrations of support that we are going to save the Amazon. I want to live.” (Mendes, Fight
for the Forest)
Tragically, he died thinking that was the end of the line for his quest (Revkin, The Burning
Season).
But he was wrong (Revkin, The Burning Season).
Portuguese_Gomercindo Rodrigues_Interview Sync 012520:
No entanto, eu acho que esse foi talvez a única previsão dele, que ele errou. Porque
efetivamente o assassinato do Chico chamou os olhos do mundo para a Amazônia. E esse foi
um grande erro estratégico dos fazendeiros. O efeito foi o contrário, eles achavam que
matando o Chico acabava tudo. Matando o Chico na verdade ele chamaram a atenção do
mundo para cá.
Jim Translation: In the end, I think that was perhaps the only prediction that he missed. Because
effectively, the murder of Chico called the eyes of the world to the Amazon. And that was a big
strategic mistake by the ranchers. The effect was the other way around, they thought killing
Chico would end everything. But in truth, he drew the attention of the world here.
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 2:
“It became a massive international media event.
Jim VO: The day after his murder, Chico appeared on the front page of the New York Times
(Rodrigues, Walking the Forest).
Gomercindo Rodrigues 2_Interview Sync_ENGLISH:
um artigo no New York Times, duríssimo, exigindo punição. Foi aí que a imprensa nacional
falou: o quê que aconteceu? E quem é Chico Mendes, quem é esse cara que tá saindo New
York Times, certo?
Jim Translation: An article in the New York Times, demanding a punishment. That's when the
national press said, what happened? And who's Chico Mendes, who's this guy who's leading
the New York Times?
Jim VO: Suddenly, everyone was hearing the name Chico Mendes, and through him, learning
about the plight of the Amazo (Revkin, The Burning Season).
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 2:
If the people who ordered Chico Mendes's assassination had had any idea of what the
repercussions were going to be, they never would have done it.
Portuguese_Gomercindo Rodrigues_Interview Sync 012520:
Na verdade aqueles que pensam que o mataram, tornaram o imortal.
Jim Translation: In fact, those who think they killed him have made him immortal.
[music beat]
Jim VO: Chico’s funeral was over; his body was in the ground. His friends filtered out of Xapuri
back to their respective homes. And meanwhile, as the dust settled on the crime scene and the
world was demanding justice, Darli and Darci Alves da Silva disappeared into the jungle
(Revkin, The Burning Season).
And a manhunt was under way (Revkin, The Burning Season).
Introduction Monologue
Graham VO: Welcome to Wildfire, a podcast series about fire in our world’s natural spaces,
hosted by myself, Graham Zimmerman and Jim Aikman.
In this season of Wildfire, we’ve been exploring the complex history of fire in the Amazon
Rainforest. This is episode six - our final episode in what has been a truly fascinating journey.
At this point in the show, we’ve covered a lot of ground. We learned about the childhood of
Chico Mendes as a rubber tapper in the forests of the Brazilian Amazon, and the horrible
oppression that his people faced (Mendes, Fight for the Forest). We learned about Chico’s
education at the hands of a communist rebel and his rise to prominence in the local unions.
When the modern era of development and deforestation in the Amazon showed up on Chico’s
doorstep, he rose to the challenge and fought back, starting the peaceful “empate” protests,
forming a new alliance with the indigenous people of the Amazon, and creating the Extractive
Reserves, all of which were uniquely successful at slowing the deforestation - but not stopping it
(Mendes, Fight for the Forest). Then he was catapulted onto the international stage, visiting
politicians, banks and lawmakers around the world. And finally, back in his home town of Xapuri,
we learned about the tragic death of Chico Mendes at the hands of the Alves da Silva crime
family (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
And now, nearing the end of this story, it could be easy to consider Chico’s death just another
murder in the Amazon - just one more victim of this war for the forest. But was it bigger than
that? Was Chico bigger than that?
And what came after the death of Chico Mendes? Did he succeed in protecting the forest? What
is going on in the Amazon today?
And finally - what happened to his killers?
Thank you all for joining us on this podcast.
Body Block 1
Jim VO: As the killers scattered and everyone feared that Chico would be swept under the rug
(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest), one question remained:
Was justice served?
Yes and no.
[musical pause]
Jim VO: Before his death, Chico said: “I only want my assassination to serve to put an end to
the impunity of the gunmen.” (Mendes, Fight for the Forest) But that was not guaranteed - there
was an enormous and corrupt legal apparatus standing in the way. Before Chico’s death, more
than one thousand murders in the Amazon went unprosecuted (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder
in the Rainforest). So how would this be any different?
010920 Adriana Ramos Interview
Yes, that's very sad,
unfortunately the majority of those that are engaged in murdering local people leaders are
protected by the most powerful people in the regions.
Jim VO: And yet, despite the impunity previously enjoyed by the gunmen in the Amazon,
Chico’s murder set something unprecedented into motion: a thorough investigation (Rodrigues,
Walking the Forest).
[music transition]
Police set up roadblocks, performed house to house searches and a sweep of the forest by
more than a hundred officers (Revkin, The Burning Season).
And the Alves family was in shock (Revkin, The Burning Season), like a bully who was finally
caught red handed.
Sebastiao, the oldest, denied any involvement in the murder, but did say that Chico was asking
for it (Revkin, The Burning Season). He said to the press, “Chico always used to say that if his
death would be a solution for Amazonia, he’d be happy to die. In speeches he used to say ‘Kill
me, come here and kill me. My chest is open.’" (Revkin, The Burning Season)
[musical pause, let that last line sink in]
Jim VO: On the other end of the family tree, Darci Alves, the trigger man, ultimately confessed
and turned himself in on December 26, just four days after the shooting (Revkin, The Burning
Season). He was 21 years old at the time, coerced into killing Chico by his father Darli - the
“mandante” or “mastermind” (Revkin, The Burning Season).
But Darli himself fled into the jungle (Revkin, The Burning Season). A manhunt followed, with 60
federal agents, 60 military cops and 30 civil cops, plus dogs and helicopters (Revkin, The
Burning Season). There were multiple shootouts and dramatic confrontations in the forest
(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
Eventually, Darli came out of hiding on January 7, 1989, a little over a week after Chico’s death
(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest). Despite his flight being an obvious
admission of guilt, he claimed innocence, even blaming the environmental community
(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest). He said “Look, if you ask me who killed
Chico, I think it's people from his union. The people who gained from this are Chico’s friends,
the ones who were close to him. These people knew his value. I didn’t know it. I don’t think
anybody really knew." (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest)
But he wouldn’t get off that easy. A trial date was set, and both Darli and Darci were in police
custody (Revkin, The Burning Season).
The drama didn’t end there - the Alves da Silva’s had powerful friends and allies in the police
and courts, as well as their dozens of gunmen who were still freely tormenting Xapuri (Revkin,
The Burning Season). The trial kept getting delayed as potential witnesses were killed and the
Alveses pulled their strings (Revkin, The Burning Season).
At one point, Darli and Darci even escaped from jail, cutting their way through the thin bars of
their cell (Revkin, The Burning Season). They were quickly recaptured and put in a higher
security facility, where they would wait another two years to stand trial (Revkin, The Burning
Season).
[music transition]
Jim VO: Meanwhile, in the court of public opinion, word of Chico’s death continued to spread
around the Amazon, his message suddenly thrust into the collective consciousness (Revkin,
The Burning Season). And miraculously - things started to improve (Revkin, The Burning
Season). His life’s work became a legacy of progress that extended well beyond December
22nd, 1988 (Revkin, The Burning Season).
In death, Chico accomplished more than he could have in life. He transcended from a warrior for
the forest to a mythical status - an icon. He crossed that heroic threshold into the history books.
Portuguese_Gomercindo Rodrigues_Interview Sync 012520:
E com isso realmente houve uma estabilização, uma certa melhoria,
Jim Translation: With his death there really was a stabilization, a certain improvement.
Jim VO: During our time in Xapuri, Graham and I saw the legacy of Chico Mendes everywhere
we looked. His face was plastered on buildings, multiple shrines, and his name still fluttered
around town, affectionately pronounced “shee-ko-menge-uh” - it seemed like everyone had a
personal relationship with him and special stories from his life.
And his grave was still adorned with flowers and mementos when Graham and I visited it with
Gomercindo.
200229_008 - Goma Walk&Talk at house, Grave:
0:15 - 0:30 Jim describes visiting Chico’s grave
1:20 - 1:26 Chico’s grave
2:03 - 2:11 “Powerful place”
Jim VO: All of our research, all of our interviews, our exploration and investigation finally
culminated in a complete understanding of what this man had changed in the Amazon.
The first was non-violence (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest). Like Ghandi and Martin Luther King
Jr before him, Chico left a legacy of peaceful resistance (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest). The
empates lived on and the number of killings in the Amazon decreased significantly (Rodrigues,
Walking the Forest).
Elenira Mendes_Interview Sync_Portuguese 030520:
Eu acredito que ele foi um grande símbolo de resistência, onde poucos tinham voz. E ele
conseguiu ser ouvido,
Jim Translation: I believe he was a great symbol of resistance, where few had a voice. And he
was able to be heard,
Jim VO: The second was the incredible alliances that he had built in the forest, ending centuries
of conflict between the indigenous people and the rubber tappers and bringing compassion and
resources from organizations around the world (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest).
Denise Zmekhol:
“Chico's legacy is beyond any legacy I've seen in all those years in the Amazon.
I think just his vision of uniting people instead of fighting for his own struggle, I think that was
very unique and powerful. I don't see this happening too much.”
Jim VO: Thirdly, deforestation of the Amazon dropped precipitously (Rodrigues, Walking the
Forest).
Elenira Mendes_Interview Sync_Portuguese 030520:
conseguiu ter essa visibilidade do que era a preservação, da importância que era preservar as
nossas florestas.
E o quanto isso iria acarretar às questões climáticas, na questão ambiental “mesmo” do nosso
país.
Jim Translation: He was able to have the visibility/insight of what preservation was and meant,
and the importance of preserving our forests, and the environmental factors of our country.
Jim VO: The Brazilian government enacted new environmental programs and policies, created
the division of ecology and human rights, and more extractive reserves and national parks
(Revkin, The Burning Season). Helicopters were dispatched to patrol the Amazon looking for
fires and illegal activity (Revkin, The Burning Season). World banks shifted funding from
deforestation and road construction to environmental efforts (Revkin, The Burning Season).
200309_004 - Adriana Ramos 2
So all the positive, uh, indicators that Brazil developed in terms of conserving the forest, uh, are
based on what we learned from Chico Mendes.
still what Chico Mendes have showed us is the best picture we can have.
Jim VO: Finally, and most importantly for Chico, the Rubber Tappers were in a better position to
control their own destiny than they had ever been (Revkin, The Burning Season). A government
agency was created to help the tappers enrich their economy (Revkin, The Burning Season);
they received international support from the Netherlands Embassy, and the Ford Foundation
(Revkin, The Burning Season); even Ben and Jerry’s introduced a Brazil nut flavor that
benefited the people of the forest (Revkin, The Burning Season).
[music]
Jim VO: But there was still one more battle to fight: the trial of Darli and Darci Alves da Silva
finally occurred in 1990, two years after Chico’s death, and a crowd of hundreds gathered
outside the courthouse (Revkin, The Burning Season).
A prosecutor addressed the jury, saying “The Alves da Silvas are not a common family. For
them, violence is their emblem. They kill for nothing. They are responsible for a rosary of
crimes." (Revkin, The Burning Season)
In the end, the jury convicted Darli and Darci of murder and sentenced each of them to nineteen
years in prison (Revkin, The Burning Season). It was the first time in history that a pistoleiro and
mandante were given the same prison term (Revkin, The Burning Season).
It was a historic legal victory that rippled throughout Brazil (Revkin, The Burning Season).
[crackling audio as an analog tape starts to spin]
Chico Mendes (Miranda Smith Interview)
My name is Francisco Mendes Filho, but I'm popularly known as Chico Mendes.
Jim VO: We knew we didn’t want to end this show without being able to actually hear from Chico
- to hear his voice and let him contribute. Miranda Smith, who directed the film “Voice of the
Amazon” captured an interview with Chico weeks before his death at his home in Xapuri (Chico
Mendes: Voice of the Amazon, a documentary about rainforest martyr Chico Mendes). The
following is taken from that interview.
Chico Mendes (Miranda Smith Interview)
in these past fifteen years in which I've been working there have always been moments that
weren't easy. I've always encountered and confronted serious problems,
But our movement was peaceful. Our movement was not one that had as its objective the
spilling of blood. No. On the contrary, it was a movement that attempted to make public opinion
aware of the grave problems we were obliged to confront head on.
This was the only way in which to resist.
[music transition]
Body 2
Finally, it’s time to take a look at the Amazon today.
[Pause]
After Chico’s assassination, many hoped that this murder would be the catalyst that was
needed, to save the forest and change the world’s relationship with the Amazon Rainforest
(Revkin, The Burning Season). And for many years it was (Feb 2010, Hetch and Cockburn, The
Fate of the Forest).
[Pause]
But sadly, in today’s world, it’s hard not to feel both bewilderment and frustration looking at the
news in which we see the burning increasing again, year by year (Chris Mooney, 2019).
The memory of Chico faded and as the world passed into the 21st century, human-made fires
crept back into the forest at an alarming rate (Feb 2010, Hetch and Cockburn, The Fate of the
Forest).
Back in the fall of 2019, when we started working on this podcast, the Amazon made headlines
with the burning that could be seen from the international space station alongside a sinister
outlook for the forest (Greicius, NASA's ECOSTRESS Detects Amazon Fires from Space 2019).
Scientists are confident that we are nearing a tipping point, after which the forest will no longer
be able to sustain itself and its systems will collapse (Chris Mooney, 2019). It will be lost, the
implications of this are immense (Chris Mooney, 2019).
To learn more about this we’ll go back to our conversation with Foster Brown in Rio Branco
200228_004 - Foster Brown (GZ)
“so the concern on a, on a regional basis that we could reach a point where we don't have
enough water being transpired. Consequently the forest can't maintain themselves and if the
forest can't maintain themselves, you get increased, die back, you get collapse and process is
not very pretty.”
Graham VO: “Not Very Pretty” meaning that the forest is no longer able to maintain itself and
goes into a state of collapse in which no matter how much work we do to save it, it continues to
dwindle away and will be lost (Chris Mooney, 2019).
Graham VO: And Forest made it clear that action on this is imperative.
200228_004 - Foster Brown (GZ)
“you've got to act now. You can't wait.”
Graham VO: The collapse of the rainforest would have immense ramifications for our climate
and global diversity, It would also be a massive loss for future generations, who will be unable to
revel in that amazing ecosystem (Chris Mooney, 2019).
Personally, my mind goes to another great feature of our globe, the Great Barrier Reef, off the
coast of Australia which I will never be able to see in its pristine glory due to oceanic
acidification (Fabricius et al., Progressive seawater acidification on the Great Barrier Reef
continental shelf 2020). Will the Amazon be forced into the same fate by the demands of human
progress? Are we really that short-sighted?
During much of our time in Brazil, it felt like this is where we are headed.
[Pause]
Chico’s home, which we had visited, was a clear indicator of the change of attitude in Brazil. At
one point it had been a small museum, a place where people could visit to remember his
sacrifice and to re-invigorate their work (Brasil, Chico Mendes House: Visit Brasil).
But today has been defunded and fallen to ruin with locked doors and shuttered windows
(Revkin, The Burning Season).
And the Alves Family has returned(Revkin, The Burning Season).
After the trial, Darci and Darli Alves filed appeal after appeal, claiming innocence (Revkin, The
Burning Season). They were indignant and enraged. And in the late nineties, they were
released early on probation - back to Xapuri where they still reside (Revkin, The Burning
Season).
And as the years have passed, conspiracy theories have gained traction that the true architects
of Chico’s murder were never investigated - that the crime went much higher than the Alves
family, and they were only pawns in the schemes of larger forces at work in the Amazon
(Rodrigues, Walking the Forest). And those true masterminds might still be at large (Rodrigues,
Walking the Forest).
This is all supported by the Alves family and others like them being elevated to positions of
power in the government, translating their impact on the forest from criminal activity to
government sanctioned “progress” (Revkin, The Burning Season).
[Pause]
And murder has also returned to the rainforest, both in Acre and elsewhere (Brazilian 'forest
guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush 2019)
In the state of Maranhao, The Guajajara people were in an ongoing armed conflict with
organizations trying to cut and burn down the forest (Brazilian 'forest guardian' killed by illegal
loggers in ambush 2019).
Their land has been described as an “island of green amid a sea of deforestation”. (Brazilian
'forest guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush 2019)
To maintain this, members of the tribe formed a group in 2012 that they call “The Guardians of
the Forest”. Their intended purpose is to ward off logging gangs pillaging their reserves for rare,
hardwood trees (Brazilian 'forest guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush 2019).
It turned into an all-out war (Brazilian 'forest guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush 2019).
Jim and I had hoped to visit their reserve and possibly meet with their leader Sônia Guajajara.
She is a leader who has risen from this conflict as a new global figurehead in the fight for the
forest (Guajajara, 2020) But were told in no uncertain terms that for us to visit the area and start
asking questions would be putting our lives at risk.
To drive this point home, multiple murders of Forest Guardians were reported while we were in
Acre (Brazilian 'forest guardian' killed by illegal loggers in ambush 2019).
And while it is being underpublicized, we heard reports that violence has also returned to Acre
where murders are once again on the rise (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
[Pause]
Our research painted a bleak future for the Amazon. One in which violence and burning
escalate until this is nothing left over which to fight (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction
III).
Compounding this fact, the politics in Brazil have only become a larger mess, increasing the
size of the problems (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
[Pause]
I found myself dismayed and as someone who does not have a vote in Brazil, I found myself
lacking in actionables to create change.
That is until I sat down with Christian Poirier from the organization Amazon Watch (Amazon
Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
Amazon Watch is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco founded in 1996 to protect
the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin (The Amazon:
A Global Treasure). As part of their mission, they partner with Indigenous and environmental
organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of
the Amazon's ecological systems (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
Christian is their program director and has been coordinating their work in Brazil since 2009
(Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
He got straight to the point.
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“First we need to recognize the forest as a critical buffer against runaway climate change, and
therefore have an, a critical importance to our collective future and our collective wellbeing. With
that in mind, we need to do everything we can to keep the forest standing and not destroy the
forest for short term economic gain,”
Graham VO: In short,
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“we can not allow the business as usual scenario to continue to play out, or we will lose the
Amazon”
Graham VO: He then explained why the perspective for forest-dwelling communities like the
indigenous and the rubber rappers is so important and how his organization is leaning into
empowering them.
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“the Amazon is not a primeval forest that is often regarded. Uh, it is in some places, a garden
that has been tended by indigenous peoples for millennia.”
Graham VO: He shared that on a global scale, indigenous peoples represent 4% of the planet's
population, and yet they steward 80% of the planet's biodiversity (Amazon Watch, Complicity in
Destruction III).
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“It is in indigenous territories because these people would live there, understand how to
maintain it. And we need to learn from them.”
Graham VO: He and his organization see leaning into this indigenous knowledge as the path
towards solutions for saving the rainforest (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“leaders like Sonia and ... Mendez, they come from the forest, they understand it”
“They can have influence on decision makers, be then political or, um, corporate, um, and in
that way, uh, can, can shape change.”
Graham VO: This was all gratifying to hear because it lined up perfectly with what we had found
during our research and travel but it still left out what we can do from the US besides donating
to organizations like Amazon Watch (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
This was what I most wanted to get at in our interview and Christian did not disappoint.
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“we need to understand how we are complicit in what is happening today first. And with that
information, we are empowered because that will give us the ability to leverage these
companies that are currently part of the problem and push them to become part of the solution.”
Graham VO: He then laid out how we as individuals outside of Brazil can affect change.
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“so we're trying to understand the levers that will be more effective
Graham VO: And what they have found is that
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“any person who wants to get involved has the ability to push its municipality or the, the private
sector, but we need to be armed with the facts “
Graham VO: According to the research completed by Amazon Watch, understanding the ways
that we invest and spend our money, both institutionally and individually is our best way to effect
change (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“it's our money that they're using to invest in destruction.”
Graham VO: They have published this work in a series of papers titled “Complicity in
Destruction”, they are linked in the show notes (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III). I
highly recommend that you check them out.
He finished our interview with a simple and important statement.
200324_001 - Christian from Amazon Watch CLEANFEED
“We need to keep the forest standing and we need to, uh, maintain ecological balance, or we
will ourselves die. So that's why it's so important that we continue to focus on forests today and
all that they imply for us, because they are a critical pillar, a critical solution to our wellbeing in
the future, be it on the climate, or be it in our health.”
Graham VO: This felt, like a clear path forward.
A way to both honor the legacy of Chico Mendes and preserve the Amazon.
And it showed that there is hope for the rainforest, but that hope will not be realized without
intention and action (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III).
Body 3
Jim VO: As we near the end of this season of our show, we’ve tried to provide some ways that
we can all better protect the Amazon Rainforest. But I also want to comment on the profound
personal impact that this project has had on Graham and me over the last two years of
producing it. A lot has happened in that time, and under it all was the immense responsibility of
doing this story justice.
Especially now - with the Alves family back on the streets (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest),
criminal figures in power in local and federal government positions (Rodrigues, Walking the
Forest), the fires in the Amazon back to an all-time high (Greicius, NASA's ECOSTRESS
Detects Amazon Fires from Space 2019), and the world facing an irrevocable environmental
crisis (Amazon Watch, Complicity in Destruction III), the situation in the Amazon is back in the
desperate throes of chaos.
And I realized that this fight, this war for the forest, will never truly end.
No matter how many victories we win, no matter how many different figures like Chico stand up
against corruption and greed, there will always be more battles to fight. As with every
environmental struggle happening all around the planet, each victory spawns new conflicts, new
resource exploitation to combat, new corporations to monitor, new evils to confront.
That is why the world needed Chico Mendes, and why it needs more - the next Chico, and the
next, and the next, to always protect the precious life on this planet that keeps it spinning -
especially the Amazon.
[music]
In the beginning of this season, we asked a question: where does the fantasy of the Amazon
end, and the reality begin? And I realized that for me, and for Chico, and Gomercindo and
Elenira and Steve and everyone listening - that the Amazon is much more than just a place.
Like Chico, it is an icon. A symbol of the natural world; a living monument to the grand, limitless
potential of our planet. And that is where the fantasy and reality meet - at the intersection of our
understanding of the Amazon and our love for it.
Because if we lose it, we’re losing more than the trees and biodiversity - we also lose our
commitment to nature as something precious and divine, something worth protecting - it dies in
our imaginations, and there’s no coming back from that.
That is no way to honor Chico’s legacy.
The Amazon must be saved.
And I, for one, am joining the fight.
[music fades out]
Chico Mendes (Miranda Smith Interview)
We can't run away from this fight. We are in a moment in which the commitment
is growing
constantly.
there is nothing else we can do, we must take the fight forward. And we are certain that this
problem is going to continue for a long time.
Conclusion
Graham VO: Here at the end of our second season of Wildfire, we find ourselves at an
important point of reflection. It is here where we get to choose what to do with the memory of
Chico Mendes.
Here in the United States, his name has faded into history and those who weren't directly
impacted may have never even heard whispers of it (Maisonnave, 2020).
One of our primary goals with this show has been to make the case for bringing his name back
to the surface of our collective memories.
We hope that it will insight both awareness and action to save the rainforest,
To be more respectful to the indigenous stewards of the land
and to remember that we are all connected in this effort to preserve our wild spaces and clear
air.
If you find yourself called to learn more about Mendes, the Surui or the current state of the
Amazon, we highly recommend that you look at the show notes, where we’ve laid out a couple
of recommendations for next steps.
We would also recommend watching Miranda Smith’s film “voice of the Amazon”
Jim, and I want to thank REI for being willing to take on this story.
And we want to thank you for joining us.
We’ll see you next time.
[musical conclusion]
The Podcast “Wildfire: Season Two” is a production of REI Co-op Studios, Bedrock Film Works
and Podpeak. The show is written and produced by Jim Aikman and myself Graham Zimmerman, with additional production support from Chelsea Davis at REI. Editing, sound design, and theme music are by Evan Phillips.