Buying a Rainforest, Paying its Inhabitants

Last week, I was able to attend a special presentation from National Geographic photographer Charlie Hamilton James entitled, “I bought a Rainforest.” The night began innocuously, and by deftly pairing stunning photographs with comical asides, Mr. James almost made me forget why I was there. Thus, when he switched photos from a slide of his children to one of the scorched earth in the Manu National Park, I was taken aback. Throughout the course of his talk, Mr. James discussed his relationship with wildlife—and the environment it inhabits—as a National Geographic photographer. He also presented his tale of buying a piece of land in the Peruvian rainforest as a warning. The stories he told of confronting illegal loggers elicited immediate frustration and delayed sorrow as he humanized people we often think of as monsters destroying our ecosystems. One such logger, he said, was trying to support a disabled child and had no other avenue of work, knowing nothing except the trees he grew up with. He was not destroying the rainforest because he didn’t respect it; on the contrary, he absolutely revered it. The only driving force for his seemingly malicious actions was his need for survival. This example struck me profoundly as I realized that the first-world vilification of loggers ostensibly to protect the rainforest does little in comparison to action. In the second half of his talk, Mr. James outlined previous failed attempts and present successful projects to protect our ecosystems by creating sustainable jobs for people who would otherwise turn to destruction to pay the bills. Overall, I found his mission of discussing grave and often-overlooked or misinterpreted issues through photography convincing; more than anything, however, it was memorable. Although I left the auditorium with more questions than answers about addressing the various facets of environmental protection, I know that I will continue to think about the issue for many weeks, months and years to come.




A farmer in the Amazon burning the forest around him