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How did you get involved in the environmental movement?
I was 19 and environmentalism was something that I was really passionate about. In university I was studying journalism and I knew some friends who were studying environmental engineering. We participated in World Environment Day and loved it. Afterwards one of my friends came up with the idea to start an environmental organization and we embraced the idea and decided to move forward. So we created an NGO called 4 Cantos do Mundo, or 4 Corners of the World. The focus of the organization is to work on socio-environmental projects in four priority areas: environmental education, political participation, sustainable technologies—such as sewage-treatment systems for rural communities—and the fourth area was naturally to work with youth, because we were youth and it made a lot of sense to reach out and start participating in youth networks.
What were some of your favorite projects at 4 Cantos do Mundo?
One of the first projects we did was in a favela—a poor neighborhood in Rio. A local activist had invited us to work in the favela. In the community we conducted workshops in skill areas where community members could participate such as craft-making, furniture-building, and woodworking. The thing I love is that even today the project is continuing and people are still learning these valuable skills. And now they are doing something else I really like which they call favela bela, or beautiful favela. Community members are painting their houses all different colors so when you go into the favela you’re struck by this symphony of color.
We also worked on a project to build a sewage system in a rural area. Initially, engineers from 4 Cantos do Mundo worked with one family who lived in the area. They got all of the materials donated—the cement and everything else they needed for the project—and the project turned out so well that they started working with other rural families. Now many families, who once lived without any sewers before, have benefited from this project.
What successes have you witnessed since forming 4 Cantos do Mundo?
All over the country there is an environmental youth movement and as youth ourselves, we wanted to get involved. Since we joined this movement, we’ve organized groups of people, we’ve spoken out on issues, and we’ve participated in meetings at both the state and national levels. Over time, local groups have become stronger—not just where we are but in the municipalities around us. As a result, they’re starting to form their own groups. With our help these new groups are becoming more independent and beginning to participate in the national movement—building a strong voice for youth on important environmental issues.
Another success that’s really great is our political participation. We started out by participating really strongly on the state level; then we were invited to participate on the national level and it just seemed to snowball from there. Participation for us really means the ability to question, to discuss things, to be part of the national discussion about the environment, but also—very, very important—the chance to learn about environmental issues.
How did you come in contact with Greengrants?
It was in a national meeting on the environment and at that time 4 Cantos do Mundo was not doing so well. We just didn’t have the funding to do everything we wanted to do and we started talking to the advisors at CASA, Greengrants’ partner in Brazil. They believed in us and supported us and that made an enormous difference, helping us through a difficult time. Soon, CASA asked us to help out with advising and reaching youth groups across the country. At that point, we started being able to identify other groups that should receive the support they needed to increase their own participation.
How do you identify grantees?
I am very active in the national meetings on the environment, and very attentive. Also because of our local work I’m able to meet and learn about a lot of different groups. Having passed through this difficult period ourselves, our organization is very aware of what a little bit of support can do to help make a big difference for groups. We talk about being partners and we talk about working together.
Tell me about a grant you made that you really thought was meaningful.
It was to a group called Rede Juventude e Meio Ambiente-REJUMA, which means Young People’s Network for the Environment. What they wanted to do was to create an internet portal for youth groups working on the environment all across the country. And they did. They created this portal that facilitates discussions across the country and allows people to find out about all the different environmental youth groups. So youth groups come in and they participate in this portal and we’re able to have a level of conversation we weren’t able to have before. This has changed the way in which we’re able to know each other and participate in the environmental movement around the country.
What do you think the future holds for the youth environmental movement in Brazil?
The very first thing that we as youth environmentalists need to do is to improve our common agenda. We need to come to some idea about what our position is on different issues. For example, one of the most polemic issues is about a river called San Francisco, which passes through seven states. It’s a little bit like the Colorado River in the U.S. in that several different communities are diverting the water out of the river for personal use, and they’re actually changing the course of the river. Some of the environmental youth groups support this because the communities need the water, while other youth groups are against it because it’s killing the river. But the problem isn’t really that some of us are for it and some are against it. The problem is that we as youth normally don’t have the access to any information to even be able to make our arguments regardless of our position.
What do you think about being part of CASA and the Greengrants Alliance of Funds? What does it mean to you?
The most amazing thing about being a part of CASA is to be able to see the kind of results that can happen when you give small amounts of money to different kinds of groups. They’re very real and visible results. When we first came to Greengrants we had no idea how to create a project or how to influence bigger issues. What we see now is what power there is in being able to inform people about these projects. It makes an enormous local difference. For instance, to be able to tell a community that doesn’t even have access to water that they’re going to have water so that they can do other things is so important. And the results are enormous. The difference of what a local community can accomplish with $5,000 as opposed to seeing what the government does with $5,000 is also huge.
Tell us a little about yourself personally—what you do for fun, what your family is like, where you live?
I live in Belo Horizonte which is a very, very big city. I like to ride my bicycle, take walks in the forest, get together with my friends and play the drums around the campfire. I also love to work with the earth—to plant seeds and watch them grow. This is something I don’t get to do much in the city and would like to do more of. I have a very wonderful family. My mother believes in my work but is worried about the stability of working with NGOs. She asks, “Why don’t you do a course in public management?” I also have a brother with whom I don’t always get along. I often think we need to take some of this spirit of caring for nature and caring for the world and bring it home a little bit more and we’re learning to do that—we’re learning to get along better.