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Warriors, snowboarders and solar powered freezers – Janet in the Amazon

Posted by Mal Chadwick - 16th July 2016


This is an update sent from Janet, a long-time Greenpeace activist who we’ve sent to the heart of the Amazon. She’s on a mission to help stop a dam that would cut through the Tapajos river in the Amazon. The dam would risk thousands of species and the livelihood of Indigenous People, known as the Munduruku.

We left camp early in the morning, setting out by boat for the proposed site of the dam. Joining me on board were Greenpeace campaigners from Spain, Brazil and the Netherlands (including a gold medalist snowboarder) and most importantly Jairo Saw, a Munduruku warrior who’d offered to show us where the dam would be built.

We got as close as we could in the boat before the water got too treacherous, landing on a small rocky outcrop with the river surrounding us.

It was a beautiful scene. Tiny fish swam in the pools. Between the rocks, small pink flowers grew, teeming with bees. On the stalks were the dried out husks of dragonfly larvae that were now darting all over the place. Colourful butterflies dodged swallows, and forest lined the bank as far as the eye could see. I have to say I got quite emotional as I tried to film it.

As we perched on our rocky outcrop, Jairo was doing an interview in Portuguese. He was asking for all of us to stand with them and prevent the complete devastation that the dam would bring.

It’s said that an army can’t march on an empty stomach. Well, the same goes with Amazonian warriors and campaigners. There’s about 40 of us at camp with more on the way, so the kitchen here is in constant use. Yesterday, was Sunday, so usual kitchen staff had a day off. I volunteered to help and spent most of the day washing up and chopping veg.

The kitchen itself is like most of the camp buildings here. Raised two feet off the ground with plywood flooring, its beams and roofing are made out of locally grown materials. Water is pumped up from a nearby stream then filtered for drinking. So far I haven’t had a dose of ‘traveller’s sickness’, so it’s obviously working.

The food is mainly rice and beans with some veg so I’m being very healthy. I brought a stash of muesli bars too for emergencies. We’ve got three gas hobs to cook on, though the Munduruku make do with fires. As part of their staple diet they harvest manoic or cassava and use giant pans to produce flour which is then sprinkled on their dishes as a topping – a bit like you would with grated cheese.

Our kitchen also has a solar powered fridge and freezer, making it much easier to cook food. Food good enough for warriors doing battle against a dam.

Please sign the petition to protect the Tapajos region and stand with the Munduruku.


Article Tagged as: Featured, Forests