GET ANGRY

step #6

“A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.”

WINSTON CHURCHILL
FORMER BRITISH PRIME MIMSTER
AND NOBEL LAUREATE

This step may not be as pleasant as a rainforest-infused bubble bath, but Winston Churchill was on to something, don’t you think? When there’s an injustice, or someone or something we love is violated, anger is a good healthy response that can inspire swift, constructive action for change. Let your anger serve you and the rainforest.

THE SCOOP

As we were culling through our research for this book, we came across horror stories of injustice, corruption, irresponsibility of the worst kind, greed, murder and even genocide. The good that came from reading each and every one of these stories is that it made each of us a little more outraged about what’s happening to the world’s rainforests and the indigenous people who call them their home. This outrage has turned to action—to resolve. We are now committed to finding solutions, one simple action at a time.

The problem is people don’t get angry enough. We’re all too distracted. While the sensational, ratings-making news of the day steals our attention, megacorporations are plundering the rainforest. The NGOs that work tirelessly to protect our tropical forests could really use our anger-turned-to-action support.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

What’s happening to the rainforest merits rage. Allow yourself to feel some genuine anger about it. Let what’s happening affect you. Your discomfort will motivate you to action.

It won’t be difficult. Shocking facts, environmental disasters and human-rights violations are the story of the rainforest. Here’s just one example of each to kindle your rage:

• An estimated 6 million hectares (roughly 15 million acres) of tropical rainforest is lost each year according to the United Nations.
• ChevronToxico: The Campaign for Justice in Ecuador reports that during the period from 1964 to 1990, “Texaco—which merged with Chevron in 2001— deliberately dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater, spilled roughly 17 million gallons of crude oil and left hazardous waste in hundreds of open pits dug out of the forest floor. To save money, Texaco chose to use environmental practices that were obsolete, did not meet industry standards and were illegal in Ecuador and the United States. The result was, and continues to be, one of the worst environmental disasters on the planet. Contamination of soil, groundwater and surface streams has caused local indigenous people to suffer a wave of mouth, stomach and uterine cancer, birth defects, and spontaneous miscarriages.”
• After the Brazilian government finally demarcated the land of the Yanomami people of the Amazon, making their territory a federal indigenous reserve, angry gold miners committed a heinous crime. In 1993, no longer able to mine gold on Yanomami land, the group of angry miners tried to exterminate an entire village in what has become known as the Haximu Massacre. “At least 16 Yanomami were killed in what many have called genocide. Some of the miners were tried and convicted and after numerous appeals on the 7th of August, 2006, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court reaffirmed that the crime known as the Haximu Massacre and upheld the ruling sentencing the miners to 19 years in prison for genocide. However, to this day there is political pressure by the mining industry to reduce the Yanomami territory and allow commercial mining operations on their lands,” reports Amazon-Indians.org.

To get a clear understanding of the darker side of rainforest destruction, simply visit a few of the websites that regularly report on the issues facing the world’s rainforests and in no time at all, you’ll begin to feel the outrage. A few good ones to start with are the Rainforest Action Network (www.ran.org), Greenpeace (www.greenpeace.org), Survival International (www.survivalinternational.org), Amazon Watch (www.amazonwatch.org) and Mongabay.com. You can sign up for e-newsletter updates from any of these sites. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter. When you can, read papers such as the New York Times, the Guardian Weekly, the Independent, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Huffington Post. They regularly run well-investigated, informative pieces about what’s happening to our tropical forests. Online news sites such as Grist and TreeHugger are also terrific resources for rainforest news. #15: Get Informed for more ideas.

RESOURCES

Amazon Watch
www.amazonwatch.org

Greenpeace
www.greenpeace.org

The Guardian
www.guardiannews.com

The Huffington Post
www.huffingtonpost.com

The Independent
www.independent.co.uk

Mongabay.com
www.mongabay.com

The New York Times
www.nytimes.com

Rainforest Action Network
www.ran.org

Survival International
www.survivalinternational.org

The Wall Street Journal
www.wsj.com

The Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com

Grist
www.grist.org

TreeHugger
www.treehugger.com

Let your anger move you to positive action. Let it guide your choices in how you live, what you purchase and how you cast your ballot. Think about what corporations are doing to the rainforests, the indigenous tribes— their health, the animals, the destruction. Let it stoke the fire of anger within and motivate you to take simple constructive steps— such as the simple steps laid out before you here.

Yep. Get angry.

A little anger, used constructively, changes the world.