Brazilian American Artist Plants Hope in a Degraded Rainforest
Summary
Los Angeles, CA, August 07, 2011 --( She returned to her birthplace in 2008 to see if there was a way her background in horticulture, and skills as a botanical artist could serve rainforest preservation in some way.Thinking shed be heading to the Amazon from her homebase in Rio, she was amazed to learn that she was born in the midst of the most diverse and endangered tropical rainforest on earth, Mata Atlantica, as Brazilians call it.A musical benefit put on by a Los Angeles group of home-schooled children, The Kids For Environmental & Social Action (KFESA), raised enough to buy 2,000 trees.Thinking shed be heading to the Amazon from her homebase in Rio, she was amazed to learn that she was born in the midst of the most diverse and endangered tropical rainforest on earth, Mata Atlantica, as Brazilians call it.3 years later, shes formed a social enterprise, raised funds to buy almost 4,000 trees from a rural association of unsubsidized tree growers, and give them to an NGO who teaches subsistence farmers permaculture to stabilize their land.There, landslides and flooding caused by deforestation have become commonplace - the worst in Brazils history occurring in January, 2011.Upon return from her last trip, she found herself representing a rural Association of 13 organic rainforest tree growers who couldnt sell their crop of 250,000 trees, due to the stiff competition by subsidized nurseries, and their lack of marketing expertise.