Jonathan said he had learned about this in college but was unaware it had started with Molly’s friend.
“This was a huge topic at college,” he said excitedly. “This was the conference where the whole of the Amazon jungle was declared an immense nature reserve. It must have been Linorio’s example that they used for the entire Amazon! One of the delegates at the conference had written his PhD thesis a year earlier on exactly the same idea. It detailed everything: the phase outs, commercial farming of many plants and trees that were being sourced from the jungle, and alternatives for anything that was impossible to source elsewhere. They accepted it, almost unaltered, as the plan for the project.
“Governments made pledges there and then while the final legal issues were sorted out. Residents could still use the natural resources for subsistence purposes, but all commercial activity was outlawed. Deforestation, mining and mass agriculture stopped overnight. It was huge. Money and resources were put in place to control it and to start conservation projects, and also to help individuals and corporations that depended on the Amazon. That helped with the transition and softened the blow.
“Before the end of the day, there was a huge anonymous donation that nearly doubled the financial pledges from the governments. Nobody ever knew where it came from, but many thought it was a computer magnate who had worked quietly for years buying huge areas of land for conservation.
“Changes happened quickly, and much of it was education. As corporations and individuals moved out, many people returned to their homelands to be a part of the changes. They saw possibilities and wanted to return to their roots to help make it a success. They brought their own expertise and contacts and made good use of the financial and political support. Everyone took responsibility as caretakers. The impact on the climate was noticed after just a year. The Amazon had always been called the lungs of the earth, and this gave it the chance to breathe again. And within a few years, on the strength of the success in the Amazon, areas throughout the world were declared nature reserves.”
Molly nodded. “It was a huge success, but it was more than that. It was such a massive symbol that we humans were capable of making a huge change. It made other changes seem possible.
“After that, Linorio was invited to talk at all sorts of conferences. I traveled with him for nearly two years. It was such a wonderful time. We met so many people from so many walks of life. And there were lots of parties, too!” Molly smiled to herself.
“It was always so busy and there was so much to organize, but I loved it. He always wanted to help, and he loved talking to people, but all the traveling was hard for him. And he said that sometimes he felt he was invited as some sort of lucky charm, almost as if him just being there could make huge changes, which was nonsense of course. He needed to get back to his jungle and to his family. And I needed to get back to my life. But I have always loved him,” she added softly.
Jonathan saw tears well up in Molly’s eyes. He knew she was feeling more than the loss of an old friend and he wanted to help her. Searching for something to change the subject, he remembered hearing that there had been numerous spin-off projects, like the one that revised the volunteer initiatives.
“Did you ever get volunteers in the early days, Viktor?” he asked.
Viktor started to laugh. “We all love to help, but it was sometimes a bit misguided, with some silly projects and ideas. There were some volunteer programs where people barged in on communities, stayed a few days, did a few things and then left. Sure, they did things or built things, but sometimes they forgot to check if it was what was needed most.”
Viktor started to laugh even harder. He remembered when a group of well-intentioned volunteers had arrived at a neighboring village.
“Some local goon in the city had organized it,” he chuckled. “They stayed for four days and planned on building 10 brick cooking stoves, inside the huts! They arrived with all their hi-tech tents, water purification straws and insect repelling clothes, and a big pile of bricks. Ha-ha-ho-ho-ho-huff-ha.” Viktor’s signature laugh was coming out now, his broad shoulders jiggling up and down. It was a wonderful relief, and Jonathan started to laugh with him, even before hearing the end of the story.
“I went along on the last day for the ceremonial try-out. Well, it had taken them four days to build one stove. And when they tried it out, the wood was damp, so they had trouble getting the fire going. In the end they doused it with gasoline from the boat. Damn near burnt the hut down. And the smoke! Everywhere! Oh my, oh my, it was chaos. Ha-ha-ho-ho-ho-huff-ha. But we were ready, with every bucket in the village filled with water. Everything was saved, and we congratulated them for all their hard work and got them back in the boats. The cement that was left came in useful to repair the volley ball space, and the rest of the bricks got used for a pathway. Our visitors were happy; they’d had an adventure holiday. And the goon in the city built himself a new house with the bulk of the money from the volunteers.” Viktor’s laughter was getting louder.
“But they hadn’t asked the community. What that village really needed was books and writing equipment to help the little school they had just started.”
Viktor composed himself a little. “But with this new structure, the volunteers really started making a contribution. They asked first how they could help and they got the women and the children involved. Participation and education were the main things that was needed, and the children loved learning foreign languages from talking to the volunteers. They spent time teaching us how to do the things they knew, instead of trying to change the things we already did well.”
This started Viktor laughing again, a real belly laugh. He was mumbling “wooden huts with grass roofs and cooking inside, and oh the smoke, you should have seen it, everyone running around.” They were all laughing, including Molly. Even the other customers in the juice bar joined in from a distance, just with the sound of Viktor’s infectious laugh.