GIVE A RAINFOREST PRESENTATION
“The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.”
GEORGE ELIOT
ENGLISH NOVEUST
Time to get that activist out again.
But you can start very small and simple on this one. Give a presentation to a small group or a large audience—to children, adults, coworkers, family or neighbors. Anything goes. If you ecotour in the tropics, this step provides a great opportunity to use any photos taken to spread the word on tropical rainforests.
THE SCOOP
Education and awareness are key cornerstones to successfully preserving the world’s precious rainforests. Anything you can do to communicate the message helps. A presentation can be a wonderful way to do this—for both you and those you present to. You need not be an expert. Simply showing the beauty of the rainforest through images can be the most effective way to motivate others to act, choose and think differently about all they do that may help or hinder the survival of our remaining rainforests.
One of our GPWG members put a presentation together with the photos she took on a trip to Costa Rica. The kindergartners and first graders at her daughter’s school loved it. The children were fully engaged and interested to learn about jaguar habitat and where chocolate and bananas come from. But it was the images that captured their imaginations most. The colors, the potential danger, the exotic animals and the pure wildness of the jungle have a profound effect on children. The teacher kept a poster board of rainforest images from the presentation up in the classroom for the remainder of the school year!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Go for it! Put together a presentation with all you’ve learned about the rainforest. It’s easier than you think. And our experience shows that these presentations go over pretty well, whether you give the presentation at a school, group, business or event.
You can find so many resources and images to use online. One great place to start is the Rainforest Alliance website (www.rainforest-alliance.org), which has a presentation of more than 50 slides available for you to use. Simply contact the Rainforest Alliance office in New York, and the staff will be happy to help. There’s a great list of rainforest conservation groups and resources in the back of this book. Use it. Visit any of these groups online for information.
For the lucky residents of New York City and its surrounding areas, you can contact Rainforest Relief (www.rainforestrelief.org). This organization has been presenting on the destruction of rainforests for 15 years. The group shows slides, lectures and will present at schools, businesses, groups or events.
If you wish to do a fundraiser (See Step #35), a presentation is a nice complement. Consider doing both together.
For businesses, there’s no better way for a human resources department to communicate the importance of conserving paper and resources to the workforce than to show how these practices, or lack of, help or hinder the well-being of the world’s tropical forests.
Visual props are wonderful for illustrating some of the steps in this book. Bring some Brazil nuts and sustainably harvested chocolate. Serve Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee or tea. Bring pencils—the non-rainforest destructive cedar pencils and some made of jelutong from the tropics. Show people how they can identify and avoid jelutong pencils. Bring a sample of rayon fabric so that people know what it may look like so they can avoid it. Bring a box of recycled aluminum foil. Wear some jewelry made from indigenous tribes. There are so many possibilities. Be creative! Have fun!
Giving a presentation is powerful. If just one person makes a better choice for the rainforest as a result, it is worth it. Even if that one person is you.
RESOURCES
Rainforest Alliance
www.rainforest-alliance.org
Rainforest Relief
www.rainforestrelief.org