On September 1st, several environmentally-conscious Pittsburgh organizations convened in the lawn of the Carnegie Library of Oakland to lead the Action for Amazonia Rally. The group sought to raise public awareness about the destructive fires which continue to burn throughout the Amazon rainforest and to inspire others to boycott companies that profit from the exploitation of the rainforest, with a focus on local action. Fires in the Amazon rainforest have increased by 77% in the past year.[1] Rally leaders traced the links between global environmental destruction and the tendency of corporations and public policies—both in Brazil and in the United States—to value profits over people.
Among the organizations represented were Team Pachamama, a nonprofit organization that aspires toward personal and societal transformation through art and media, Pittsburgh UNITED, a coalition of environmental organizations, the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle, the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center, Pittsburgh Vegan Society, Extinction Rebellion Pittsburgh, Breathe Project, Transition Pittsburgh, and Last Chance Earth.
The rally kicked off in front of the Pittsburgh-famous “Dippy the Dinosaur” statue. Speaker Miguel Sague, an indigenous elder and appointed medicine man of the Three Rivers American Indian Center, spoke passionately about the raging fires in the Amazon, which “are being set on purpose” to clear grazing land for companies such as McDonald’s and Costco. In addition to multinational corporations, Sague noted the role of Brazil’s government in the degradation of the rainforest, lamenting that “The president of Brazil [Jair Bolsonaro] set back progress 20, 30 years.” Sague stressed that the majority of the fires “were not natural” in origin. Sague, who founded the Caney Indigenous Spiritual Circle, noted the link between destruction of the environment and racism towards indigenous people.
Speaker Maren Cooke echoed Sague’s sentiments regarding the role of large corporations in damaging the environment. Cooke serves on the board of Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), a nonprofit citizens’ group in Southwestern Pennsylvania with a focus on air quality in the Pittsburgh region. GASP conducts public meetings, reviews permits, and occasionally brings legal action with regard to environmental concerns, such as “enforcement of air quality standards at the Clairton Coke Works, LTV Corporations air quality violations at the firm’s former Hazelwood plant” and other actions. Cooke noted that “almost all of [the fires] were set on purpose” with the goal of expanding agriculture and mining. “So much of the deforestation in the Amazon comes from beef and cattle grazing,” Cooke says. Cooke urged attendees to become active in writing to policy makers[2] about local environmental issues, as well, such as the building of the Shell petrochemical cracker plant, the first of several plants planned for Beaver County. She noted that each plant will require the drilling of 1,000 new wells. Cooke stressed that the plans are “not compatible with a view of the future that includes a livable planet for our children and grandchildren.”
Speakers urged local action in the form of letter writing and
personal choices, such as eating less meat and not purchasing from companies
that take part in the deforestation and burning of the Amazon rainforest. Attendees
took a moment of silence to honor the displaced indigenous people of western
Pennsylvania—the Shawnee, Seneca, and Delaware—before marching through Oakland,
led by Miguel Sague, with chants of “Act locally, think globally.”
[1] Manuela Andreoni & Christine Hauser, Fires in Amazon rain forest have surged this year, NY Times, (August 21, 2018), http://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/21/world/americas/amazon-rainforest.html.
[2] Local organization Citizens Climate Lobby meets at the Kingsley Association to facilitate letter writing to policy makers.