Earth Day is here! Let´s do something special!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here are more top tips for today Thursday 22 April 2021

1. Have you updated your light bulbs yet? There are a lot of different options out there that you can choose from, and most of them are much more environmentally friendly than what we grew up with. Changing them can save you a lot of time, money, and energy.

2. Put together an activity for your community if there isn’t one going on. Organize an event, do a community clean up, or put together a fair if there isn’t one already there.

3. Consider adopting a street. Our roads get a lot of litter and junk on them on a regular basis, and there are roads all over the country that do not have what they need when it comes to people that can clean them. Go with your work or group of friends to take care of things. A lot of people that I know always carry a bag with them just in case they see any litter lying around! It is amazing how much is collected like this!

4. Take some time to work with your local school. Local schools need all of the help that they can get when it comes to figuring out the best way to get kids more interested in the environment and its care.

5. Take initiative to make sure that your workplace is more environmentally friendly. See what you can do in order to make it just a little bit easier on everyone when it comes to getting involved with caring for the environment. Do research on recycling and get everything in order so you can all do your part.

Everyone can do something! it doesn´t matter how small, it will make a difference!  The main objective of  Earth Day is to encourage all year round activities and to keep reminding people of the mess that we are in at this time.

If you are reading my blog then you are more than likely doing all and maybe more of my suggestions to help in the battle to save our planet from ourselves!  The two things I will be doing extra today are leaving the car at home and walking into town and making today another meat free day!

The blog song for today is:" All over the World" by ELO.

TTFN

 

 

Parts of Brazil's Amazon rainforest are being illegally sold on Facebook, the BBC has discovered

The protected areas include national forests and land reserved for indigenous peoples.

Some of the plots listed via Facebook's classified ads service are as large as 1,000 football pitches.

Facebook said it was "ready to work with local authorities", but indicated it would not take independent action of its own to halt the trade.

"Our commerce policies require buyers and sellers to comply with laws and regulations," the Californian tech firm added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image copyrightBrasil2

image captionThe Amazon has been described as being the lungs of the Earth - and it is being destroyed

The leader of one of the indigenous communities affected has urged the tech firm to do more.

And campaigners have claimed the country's government is unwilling to halt the sales.

"The land invaders feel very empowered to the point that they are not ashamed of going on Facebook to make illegal land deals," said Ivaneide Bandeira, head of environmental NGO Kanindé.

No certificates

Anyone can find the illegally invaded plots by typing the Portuguese equivalents for search terms like "forest", "native jungle" and "timber" into Facebook Marketplace's search tool, and picking one of the Amazonian states as the location.

Some of the listings feature satellite images and GPS co-ordinates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image copyright  Getty Images

image caption  Cattle are often put to graze on land that is meant to be protected

Many of the sellers openly admit they do not have a land title, the only document which proves ownership of land under Brazilian law.

The illegal activity is being fuelled by Brazil's cattle ranching industry.

'No risk'

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is at a 10-year high, and Facebook's Marketplace has become a go-to site for sellers like Fabricio Guimarães, who was filmed by a hidden camera.

"There's no risk of an inspection by state agents here," he said as he walked through a patch of rainforest he had burnt to the ground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image caption Fabricio is using Facebook Marketplace to sell land he has grabbed from indigenous communities

With the land illegally cleared and ready for farming, he had tripled his initial asking price to $35,000 (£25,000).

Fabricio is not a farmer. He has steady middle-class job in a city, and views the rainforest as being an investment opportunity.

The BBC later contacted Fabricio for his response to its investigation but he declined to comment.

Going undercover

Many of the ads came from Rondônia, the most deforested state in Brazil's rainforest region.

The BBC arranged meetings between four sellers from the state and an undercover operative posing as a lawyer claiming to represent wealthy investors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One man, called Alvim Souza Alves, was trying to sell a plot inside the Uru Eu Wau Wau indigenous reserve for about £16,400 in local currency.

It is the home to a community of more than 200 Uru Eu Wau Wau people. And at least five further groups that have had no contact with the outside world also live there, according to the Brazilian government.

But at the meeting, Mr Alves claimed: "There are no Indians [sic] there. From where my land is, they are 50km [31 miles] away. I am not going to tell you that at one time or another they are not walking around."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image caption The Uru Eu Wau Wau people are trying to protect their land from invaders

The BBC showed the Facebook ad to community leader Bitaté Uru Eu Wau Wau.

He said the lot was in an area used by his community to hunt, fish and collect fruits.

"This is a lack of respect," he said.

"I don't know these people. I think their objective is to deforest the indigenous land, to deforest what is standing. To deforest our lives, you could say."

He said the authorities should intervene, and also urged Facebook - "the most accessed social media platform" - to take action of its own.

Changed status

Another factor driving the illegal land market is the expectation of amnesty.

Mr Alves revealed he was working with others to lobby politicians to help them legally own stolen land.

"I'll tell you the truth: if this is not solved with [President] Bolsonaro there, it won't be solved anymore," he said of the current government.

A common strategy is to deforest the land and then plead with politicians to abolish its protected status, on the basis it no longer serves its original purpose.

The land grabbers can then officially buy the plots from the government, thereby legalising their claims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image caption Alvim Souza Alves told a BBC undercover agent that he was selling indigenous land but did not show a legal land title

Mr Alves took the BBC's undercover reporter to meet a man he described as the leader of the Curupira Association. Brazil's federal police have described the group as being an illegal land-grabbing operation focused on invading indigenous territory.

The two men told the reporter that high-profile politicians were helping them set up meetings with government agencies in the capital Brasília.

They said their main ally was congressman Colonel Chrisóstomo, a member of the Social Liberal Party, which Mr Bolsonaro used to be a member of until he founded his own party in 2019.

When contacted by the BBC, Colonel Chrisóstomo acknowledged having helped arrange meetings, but said he did not know the group was involved in land invasions.

"They didn't tell me," he said. "If they invaded [the land], they don't have my support anymore."

When asked if he regretted setting up the meetings, he said: "No."

The BBC contacted Mr Alves for his response but he declined to comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

image copyright Ignacio Palacios

image caption The Amazon rainforest is home to one in 10 known species on Earth

The BBC also approached Brazil's Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles.

He said: "President Jair Bolsonaro's government has always made it clear that his is a zero-tolerance government for any crime, including environmental ones."

The government has cut the inspections budget for Ibama, the federal agency that in charge of regulating deforestation, by 40%.

But Mr Salles said the coronavirus pandemic had hampered law enforcement in the Amazon, and that state governments also bore responsibility for the deforestation.

"This year the government has created operation Verde Brasil 2, which seeks to control illegal deforestation, illegal fires, and to join efforts between the federal government and the states," he added.

However Raphael Bevilaquia, a federal prosecutor based in Rondônia, said the situation had worsened under the current government.

"The situation is really desperate," he said. "The executive power is playing against us. It's disheartening."

For its part, Facebook claims trying to deduce which sales are illegal would be too complex a task for it to carry out itself, and should be left to the local judiciary and other authorities. And it does not appear to see the issue as being serious enough to warrant halting all Marketplace land sales across the Amazon.

Ivaneide Bandeira, who has been trying to combat deforestation in the state of Rondônia for 30 years, said she was losing hope.

"I think this is a very hard battle. It is really painful to see the forest being destroyed and shrinking more and more," she said.

"Never, in any other moment in history, has it been so hard to keep the forest standing."

What an absolute disgrace that these people are willing to sell off  parts of their own country without having to prove that they actually own the land and shame on the people wanting to buy it.  When will people wake up and realise that we are destroying our planet purely for money.

When will this stop, can´t they see what they are doing to their own country?  

The blog song for today is:" Hotel California" by the Eagles

TTFN