Eco-solidário

The NGO, or ONG, is like my second home. I love everyone who works there, especially now that I can have actual conversations with them. I have been learning a lot with the NGO, getting to know how Brazilians view environmental sustainability and learning about the political processes required to get things done. Things here are not as regulated, and Brazilians are much more forward thinking. I came to work, and I've learned that Brazil is much more advanced than the U.S. in terms of the widespread use of environmental habits and technology. Most Brazilians I have met separate their trash according to material so that it's ready to be recycled or sent to decompose (plastics, glass, paper, organic, metal). To them, it isn't this great effort or change in lifestyle. It's just the way things are done. Eco-Solidário hosted a lecture last week, and the speaker discussed air quality in the city and ways to ameliorate and maintain clean air. She brought with her some items that were made completely out of recycled materials, like yarn, thread, blankets (that were made of soda bottles and really soft!), Italian-made bio-degradable "plastic" bags made of corn starch, and other remarkable items. Below is a photo of Silvana, me, the mayor of São José, and Renata. Yup, that's right. The mayor and I, we like to chill every once in a while....

Last month, I went to a press conference, where I met the mayor of São José dos Campos. The conference was held for a public housing project of several thousand unit,s on which solar panels would be installed for the purpose of heating water. Apparently, heating water consumes the largest amount of electricity in most homes. I noticed that in a lot of houses here, they have these contraptions on their showers that have an option to heat the water with the sun, which produces luke-warm water good enough for a shower. In the States, I feel like there are so many obstacles when trying new methods of construction, especially when it comes to public housing, since you have to rely on others for funding. Here, the government builds the housing directly, whereas in Philadelphia, it seems that most public housing projects are facilitated by community organizations.

Here I am being diplomatic with the mayor. Actually I was probably just using my hands to explain where I live in relation to New York.

To be honest, I have my doubts about the public housing built here, at least the projects I have seen. They may be more advanced in terms of technology and environmental sustainability, however, the houses are usually made of simple cinder blocks, have a square floor plan, are single-story, and laid out in a grid. The land is usually cleared of all trees, grass, and vegetation, leaving a dusty dirt foundation. You can spot a public housing project from miles away. Dusty villages of identical roofed boxes, each built from the same lego instructions. At least these projects have more access to services than favelas. In São Paulo, I saw favelas built along the sides of highway structures, with garbage literally flowing into the river.

Speaking of garbage, everyone in the NGO went to Rio together to check out this new waste management technology at a plant called UsinaVerde. It is located within the campus of Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.


Apparently, it is a cleaner way to burn garbage and produce cinder blocks out of the ash that results. Before the garbage makes its way to the incinerator, all the metal pieces are pulled out by workers as it moves along a conveyor belt. I didn’t quite understand the process, but it seemed that very little ash was extracted from a much larger amount of garbage, and that the engineers were not monitoring the amount of carbon being emitted from the smoke stack. We’re not sure that this is the right technology to bring to São José. To me, it seemed that the plant appeared clean and contained because it was small, experimental version. I’m not sure where the garbage was coming from, but it clearly was a very small portion of the city. If the plant were magnified by the amount necessary for an entire city, who knows how much of an environmental impact it would have, especially on the air.

Yesterday, I went to São Luiz de Paraitinga for the arts and crafts project with the women there. We were accompanied by a craftsman who works primarily with bamboo. So Bamboo-man brought his portfolio, along with magazine clippings of his work. He makes these beautiful planters, fountains, chairs, hammocks, and pagodas completely out of bamboo. They were so nice that for a second, I wanted to be a bamboo craftsperson too! On my first visit to the countryside, I noticed that there were bamboo groves naturally growing beside the road. My first thought was that the area has so much biological diversity: palm trees beside bamboo groves beside pine trees and grasses. We took a walk with the women and one young man who seemed particularly interested in the project. The idea is to get the community to harvest the bamboo and learn to make products that they can sell to them city folk. Although teaching arts and crafts to the women has been a positive experience for everyone, the bamboo project would give them a trade that could last for a long time, a more sustainable occupation that does rely on the NGO coming out every week with bundles of yarn and other materials. They could learn to plant new bamboo shoots and work with the bamboo they have while waiting for their new shoots to grow. Bamboo-man explained that bamboo is one of those crops that is cut down regularly but never really planted. China has depleted a lot of its bamboo, mostly for exportation to the U.S. and Europe. Bamboo-man is willing to teach the community how to use the bamboo, starting out small of course. The giant bamboo is absolutely amazing, and hopefully the community values these natural resources. Unfortunately, the women seem to have trouble looking at the big picture. When they saw Bamboo-man’s goods, they could only talk about how nice the pieces would look in their homes, naturally, rather than considering the benefits they could reap from this new project. Below are photos of some of the women and their children with Silvana and Renata, and my hand touching one of the giant bamboo stalks.


It’s interesting for me to experience economic development through the arts in another country, since that is also New Kensington’s thing. My supervisor, Marcos, explained that it was an easy project to come up with because it is human nature to like beautiful things. There will always be a market for the arts.

People here, and probably in other countries, have this twisted notion that there is no poverty in the U.S. I have actually been asked, "Are there poor people in the U.S.?" and they stand there open-eyed and surprised to hear the truth. Or they assume that everyone receives aid from the government, like it's a no-brainer. They think that all Americans are middle-class citizens. Sure, we don't have slums, so poverty here perhaps takes a different form, but hungry is hungry in any country. Most of what they know of the U.S. is from images they’ve seen through the movies, T.V. shows, the media, etc, so I blame the proponents of these images. I suppose Brazilians are as misinformed about the U.S. as Americans are about Brazil. Apparently I am helping to dissolve some of those stereotypes by not being an "obese, blond, arrogant American with ugly clothing," also another preconception they had. I was also asked to clear up a misconception about Brazilians: everyone, Brazilians do not live in the jungle! I know you were thinking that they all lived in the Amazon and took breaks only to play soccer or be fanatical soccer fans or wear thong bikinis and celebrate Carneval, but no, it's not true. Phew...glad we cleared that one up. But in all seriousness, I would take a second before assuming anything about anyone. Some of the kids I have met here, who are on their way to earning the best educations in their respective countries, have gone to the U.S., working very regular jobs to temporarily earn money and learn English. This one kid, who is at the best engineering college in Brasil worked in the U.S. cleaning hotels, and then worked in a Subway. My friend from Mexico (a lawyer-to-be) worked as a maid in Arizona cleaning the humble abodes of the most affluent families, who would sincerely ask, "Where is Mexico?" or amicably comment, "Oh, nice. You're studying law? Oh....to bad it's in Mexico." So here I am, asking my fellow compatriots to please stop making a bad name for us! I have to constantly defend my nationality by insisting that just because I am ethnically Korean, it does not mean that I am a foreigner in the U.S. It is the only country I have ever known. But after saying this, I don't always feel so proud.