Edelman

The Amazon Jungle Comes Alive in the Concrete Jungle

March 4, 2008

NEW YORK, NY – March 3, 2008 – This spring, lush green trees from the banks of the Amazon River will flourish alongside the Hudson River; shamans may be seen on the subway; and third and sixth grade students will be transported to the heart of the rainforests without leaving their classrooms. Amaz&#244nia Brasil, a citywide event of exhibits and workshops that seeks to bring models of sustainable living from the Amazon and present a contemporary vision of the region, will take place from April 17 to July 13, its creators and presenters the Health and Happiness Project, the Amazon Working Group and Fare Arte announced today.

Spanning more than two million square miles, the Brazilian Amazon contains plants, animals and forests that human eyes have never seen. While 83 percent of the region has been preserved, is has been drastically affected by deforestation almost every year since 1998. As climate change has become a reality, the Brazilian Amazon holds an important key to the world’s future: its ability to regulate the earth’s climate.

“Amaz&#244nia Brasil has a magic which transports visitors inside the forest,” said Dr. Eug&#234nio Scannavino Netto, Amaz&#244nia Brasil’s co-creator and founder of the Health and Happiness Project, a non-governmental organization that builds sustainable economies in the Brazilian Amazon. “When the world begins to understand the Amazon, we all can help sustain it and learn how to live in a more sustainable way.”

Held from April 17 to July 13, Amaz&#244nia Brasil offers interactive exhibits and seminars for all ages in three primary locations that are within walking distance:

Amaz&#244nia Brasil main exhibit at Pier 17, South Street Seaport: In this 13,000-square-foot recreation of the Amazon, visitors can experience firsthand the sights, sounds and wonders of life in the Brazilian Amazon including its biodiversity, people, villages and cities. Visitors will be able to interact directly with communities living in the heart of the forest via the Internet, and meet shamans and artisans from the region in person. Exhibit-goers will be able to bring a piece of the rainforests home when they buy crafts made by artisans in the Brazilian Amazon, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting a fund developed to helps to protect the Amazon.

Amaz&#244nia Design, Fashion & Sustainable Economy at the World Financial Center: This exhibit will showcase Brazil’s foremost furniture and fashion designers along with the traditional arts of the Brazilian Amazon’s indigenous people. Both ancient and modern artists share the Brazilian Amazon as their source and inspiration, and make fashion and furniture in an envioronmentally responsible way from materials found in the Brazilian Amazon.

“Guardians of the Forest” photography exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian: Renowned S&#227o Paolo photographer Rodrigo Petrella will introduce New Yorkers to some of the planet’s most intriguing people in this extensive exhibit. His photographs offer an unprecedented glimpse into the rich lives and complex cultures of indigenous people who have lived harmoniously with the natural world for centuries-offering vital insight into how we can sustain our planet’s future. The exhibition calls attention to the COIAB – Coordination of the Indigenous at the Brazilian Amazon – the most representative association of indigenous from the Amazon.

Video Amaz&#244nia Ind&#227gena: A View from the Villages Film Showcase: May 1-4: The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presents a unique retrospective of award-winning video productions by indigenous video-makers from the Brazilian Amazon. A celebration of organized by the museum’s Film + Video Center, the showcase is supported by the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Brazilian Embassy. Please visit www.nativenetworks.si.edu for an updated program.

Seminars on climate change and indigenous people: Hosted at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, these seminars offer visitors the chance to learn about ancient indigenous arts and crafts, the Amazon’s biodiversity and ways to protect the region from deforestation.

Curricula from the New York City Board of Education: The New York City Department of Education has partnered with Amaz&#244nia Brasil to develop curricula that introduces students in third and sixth grades to the region’s geography, biodiversity and people.

Created by the Projeto Sa&#250de e Alegria (Health and Happiness Project), Amaz&#244nia Brasil is the culmination of extensive research and collaborations with more than 600 organizations. More than 500,000 people visited the Amaz&#244nia Brasil exhibit in France, Switzerland and Brazil since the project began in 2002. After its New York City tour, the exhibit will go to Tokyo, Monaco and the Netherlands.

Amaz&#244nia Brasil is sponsored by Alcoa and Alcoa Foundation and has the support of IBM as well as institutional support from the Brazilian Ministry of Culture and the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and partnerships with the Central Park Conservancy, Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, NYC Department of Education, The New York Botanical Garden, South Street Seaport and arts>World Financial Center. For exhibit details and more information, log onto www.amazonia.org.br and www.mercadoamazonia.org.br.

About the Health and Happiness Project (Projeto Sa&#250de e Alegria)

Amaz&#244nia Brasil co-creator, the Health and Happiness Project (Projeto Sa&#250de e Alegria) has been working since 1987 in rural Amazonian communities surrounding the municipalities of Santar&#233m, Belterra and Aveiro on the Amazon and Tapaj&#243s-Arapiuns in the western region of the state of Par&#225. Its social and environmental projects reach 30,000 people in 143 communities. For more information, visit www.saudeealegria.org.br.

About the Amazon Working Group (Grupo de Trabalho Amaz&#244nico)

Amaz&#244nia Brasil co-creator, the Amazon Working Group (GTA) has more than 600 affiliates. Founded in 1992, it is divided into 14 regional groups and is composed of NGOs and social movements representing rubber tappers, Brazil nut pickers, coconut-breaking women, artisan fishermen, indigenous communities and small farmers. For more information, visit www.gta.org.br

About Fare Arte

Amaz&#244nia Brasil presenter is S&#227o Paolo-based Fare Arte, which means, to “make art.” Since its inception, it has been transformed from a company that believed that “culture is good business” to a company that also believes that art can be a powerful element of transformation in society, and that access to knowledge is the guarantee of a democratic society. For more information, go to www.farearte.com.br.