Brazil’s Aveiro More than a hundred feet was where the flames blazed, throwing billowing smoke across the jungle. Scattered from the undergrowth were boars. Toucans leaped from the foliage. And shortly after, thousands of acres of the Amazon rainforest collapsed into ash. In 1928, a large area in north-central Brazil was being cleared for a huge project: Fordlandia, a $20 million city designed by American manufacturer Henry Ford, who at the time was the richest man in the world. Schools, a movie theater, a hospital, and bungalows emerged from the burned ground. To help the newly arrived Americans feel at home, tennis and golf courts were constructed. The local laborers, however, were responsible for the sawmill and factory floors.
Nevertheless, Fordlandia has been mainly neglected and gradually deteriorating over the previous eight decades. Nevertheless, there is still a lingering stench of smoke as Brazil deals with the consequences of decades of deforestation and greed for riches in its famed rainforest. The utopian experiment built by Ford still houses about 2,000 people, serving as a dilapidated reminder of the goals that shaped the forest. These impoverished people are torn between the need to preserve their surroundings and the need to take advantage of them in order to survive.
Indeed, I clear forests. How else will I be able to farm? stated Sadir Moata, a local resident of 31 years. Moata, a strong farmer with bushy, dark eyebrows, decided to restore a larger house in Fordlandia that was meant for American expats. In order to make the garden habitable for his father, he cleared up the bat droppings and controlled the vegetation. However, he doesn’t make much money from farming, and he can plant more crops by using fire to clear the field. I receive 600 reals, or $120, a month from a government initiative. There’s me, my spouse, our two kids, and our dining companion, my brother. With 600 reals, what kind of life will I lead?
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