uncle sam

"Bubble Make" Uncle Sam, by Renato Alarcao

(published in Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper)

Hope International

I went to buy the paper today, and I looked around at the magazines. One week after the American election, our President-elect, Barack Obama, is on every cover of every major magazine in Brazil. Every class I had, or almost every one, had at least one student who asked me what I thought about the election, and everyone was excited that it was Obama.

The U.S. has people hoping again. And that's a start. Now comes the hard part.

This photo was taken in SoHo in NYC by my brother, John.

... the end of the world as we know it ...

SG logo creator, Renato Alarcão, from Associado SIB - Sociedade dos Ilustradores do Brasil -submitted the above image published by a fellow illustrator that was just sent to the Society of Brazilian Illustrator's web group.

renato asked about john mccain & is worried what will happen if we elect him... and he then quoted REM's Michael Stipe who used to say: "It's the end of the world as we know it..."

thanks renato for sharing this image and your thoughts!

brazilian lights

our brazilian friend renato sent us this interesting eco-tip...
Here is a video about a clever and ingenuous invention. Light bulbs made out of plastic bottles. They are filled with water and a little bit of bleach (to keep germs away), then the caps are protected with photographic film (to protect them from being dried out by the sun rays), and bingo. Each bottle produces as much light as a 50W bulb. How come we never thought of that before???

Notes from Underground...aka Brazil

São Paulo: The man picture to the right is not Al Gore. Obviously.
His name is Rajendra Pachauri and he is the Chairman of the
IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control). He
just won the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Al Gore, and
everyone else at IPCC.

Last week, Estado de São Paulo, interviewed him about Brazil, the Amazon, Global Warming, and Ethanol. His comments were remarkable. I have taken some of that interview and translated it for anyone who cares. Here goes.

Q: The Brazilian government is having problems in monitoring the Amazon Rainforest. What can be done?

A: The Amazon is one of the greatest natural resources that the world depends on in the fight against climate change. But the Brazilian government's decisions, moreover those of the Brazilian people, need to be sovereign in the region. The Amazon is in Brazilian territory and no one can change that or question that reality.

Q: The environment, however, does not put into question that Brazilian sovereignty over the Amazon?

A: In no way. The international community needs to understand this and evaluate how to collaborate so that Brazil can maintain its coverage of the Amazon.

Q: How should the international community be involved with the Amazon in order to ensure its protection?

A: There are some options. One of them would be to negotiate an agreement for the protection of forests across the world. In this case, a type of value would be worked out for the conservation of the forest, and this value would provide for the resources needed to keep the wilderness intact, including the creation of alternative economies for the population of the region. And the richest countries could contribute financially to guarantee that the Amazon not be destroyed. obviously this is something that the governments need to negotiate and I cannot predict how this would occur. Certainly, it wouldn't be an easy compromise.

Q: You stated last week, upon being awarded the Nobel Prize, that the developing countries mustn't repeat , in their growth, the same mistakes that were made by the richest countries in the past. How then should we develop?

A: The development model needs to be completely remodeled. We know that the paradigm used by the developed countries in the last decades did not function in environmental terms and we will be feeling the effects of this for decades to come. What I said was that Brazil, India, and China can't repeat this model and find technologies and standards that ensure sustainable development. It would be in the interest of these developing countries to follow this new model. What is needed is a new world lifestyle, including diet. If I could give a recommendation, I would ask that the consumption of meat diminish. But questions like the use of water for irrigation and other aspects of life need to change.

Q: But the Brazilian government alleges that the cost is too high and now is not the time to put limits on the growth of the country.

A: The costs of mitigating the problems are not as much as they say. Beside this, we have the technical capacity to implement the changes. It is a fallacy to say that millions will lose their jobs if environmental requirements are put into place. We came to a conclusion that showed that the world would need to spend 0.6% of its collective GNP yearly to attack the crisis. In all, less than 3% would be needed...If not, we all suffer. In Latin America, the production of grains could fall 30% by 2080 if nothing is done. In Africa, the decrease could be 50% by 2020. The rationing of water, which now affects 12 million Latin-Americans, could reach 81 million by 2020.

zoopress studio from brazil

zoopress studio is a creation of my friend rosa who is a graphic designer. she and her husband renato studied the art of handmade books here in nyc at the center for book arts. after years of studying and handmaking books, rosa launched zoopress studio back in her home of rio de janeiro, brazil. see photo of her teaching a book binding class.

over the years, i've collected some of their journals and bought their photo albums for unique gifts. they've sent me samples & gifts, such as a small baby photo book of their son. see sketchbook detail above and baby book. the range of colors and detail of each book make these handmade items not only useful but a beautiful piece of art.

see more zoopress creations on flickr here.