As Brazil continues to pass anti-environmental laws, Choose Love and Earthrise launched their second Choose Earth campaign on Earth Day to fight back for environmental and indigenous justice.
With a goal to raise £150,000 — 191,000 US dollars — all profits go to support activists and indigenous communities on the frontlines of the movement for environmental justice.
Alongside Choose Earth and Earthrise activists, many indigenous leaders, artists and activists have joined in support of the Choose Earth team including Daiara Tukano (Tukano indigenous activist and artists), Sônia Guajajara (Brazilian indigenous activist, politician and environmentalist), Narubia Werreria (environmental activist) and Gliceria Tupinamba (indigenous activist).
Escolha a Terra !!
Posted @withregram • @chooselove Sônia (@guajajarasonia) is one of our collaborators on Choose Earth, a real climate leader at the forefront of the indigenous movement in Brazil 🇧🇷
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ pic.twitter.com/vgtyXKU2S8— Sonia Guajajara (@GuajajaraSonia) April 22, 2022
Since Friday, the campaign has received 30 donations and has raised $469.36 — hopefully, in the next couple of weeks they will see more donations coming through.
Safeguarding indigenous land is essential to saving the Amazon
For years the Amazon rainforest has been under threat by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government and illegal loggers who propagate the eradication and pollution of trees, water and land.
The majority of this threat pertains to the various indigenous communities across the Amazon — indigenous land making up almost half (45%) of the world’s largest rainforest.
Yet the Brazilian government has only recently turned to an openly-declared exploitative policy, with Bolsonaro’s government clearly supporting logging and extraction of land resources.
Over the last two decades, Latin American governments have implemented programs that protect indigenous land from illegal logging efforts, yet since Bolsonaro took office in 2019, these environmental protections have been swept away for loggers, ranchers and extractive industries so the country can benefit economically.
Choose Love estimates that indigenous communities make up 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity — without environmental protections, the 45% of protected indigenous land in the Amazon could be significantly reduced and the Earth’s major carbon sink could, as a result, become extinct.
If such things were to happen, the economic benefits would seem obsolete compared to the negative impacts of climate change the deterioration of the Amazon would propagate.
Choose Love and Earthrise have previously been involved with similar campaigns
Choose Love is a non-profit fundraising organization supporting refugees and displaced persons globally.
They have worked on supporting several countries and groups that have recently been threatened through campaigns including “Run for Ramadan – Afghanistan Appeal” a campaign fundraising money for those trying to flee Afghanistan, “Ukraine Crisis Fundraiser” and “The Walk Amal Fund” for Syrian refugees.
Similar to Choose Love’s mission, Earthrise is a collection of filmmakers, designers and writers dedicated to communicating the climate crisis through storytelling.
Started back in 2020, the organization was founded by Finn Harries, Alice Aedy and Jack Harries as a way to combine their interests in filmmaking and storytelling with the climate crisis. Since then, they have released various film projects on different communities and protests around the world, stories on climate change education and solutions and as of recently collaborated with Choose Love again in the fight for indigenous rights.
The Choose Earth campaign was launched for the first time last year and raised over £100,000 that supported 64 indigenous leaders across Brazil.
Now the Choose Earth campaign wants to go even bigger
This year the Choose Earth campaign has a goal of raising £150,00 for 64 indigenous communities across Brazil— £50,000 more than the previous year.
To do this, Choose Earth released a line of merchandise where all proceeds go to indigenous communities — the merchandise includes sustainable Choose Earth t-shirts, upcycled Choose Earth t-shirts and various Choose Earth art prints made by indigenous artists.
Shop Choose Earth merch this #EarthDay and limited edition prints: https://t.co/l4flBMMSDL
100% of the merch/print profits will be donated t0 resource the Brazilian indigenous leaders who protect crucial ecosystems and preserve life for all. @earthrisestudio 💚🌎 pic.twitter.com/eqUdVh5R2b
— Choose Love (@chooselove) April 22, 2022
Alongside supporting the campaign in merchandise, people can also donate through the Choose Earth website.
Anti-environmental laws in Brazil are currently destroying indigenous land and Amazon trees daily. The second Choose Earth campaign was created on Earth Day for the purpose of defending these indigenous rights — hopefully, they succeed in protecting both the Earth and the people that protect the Earth back.
To donate visit https://www.chooseearth.co.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com. In the Featured Photo: Night time in the Amazon rainforest on July 27, 2005. Source: James Martins, Wikimedia.
