From Barren Wasteland to Thriving Ecosystem: The Incredible Story of a Brazilian Couple’s Reforestation Project
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I have a best friend during the elementary to high school days who is doing a very similar thing in Madagascar. He was a genius in math which he majored in at University of Chicago and ended up making millions as an analyst for some huge mutual fund companies living in NYC and Boston. He retired from it all in his late 30s, got a masters in forestry from University of Minnesota, and has been in Madagascar helping them replant a forest for last 12-14 years. Lives in a hut practically in a small remote village and very isolated. Married a local women half his age and became a dad in his late 40s. Pretty incredible story.
One of the things that struck me from his tales there are how long it takes to travel. Being 50 miles from somewhere is a long journey due to roads and transportation. Also scary when there are medical issues for same reasons. You are on your own.
One of the things that struck me from his tales there are how long it takes to travel. Being 50 miles from somewhere is a long journey due to roads and transportation. Also scary when there are medical issues for same reasons. You are on your own.
I thought Brendon Grimshaw and his work in the Seychelles had been covered here but maybe not. In 1962, he bought Moyenne, a tiny island - it measures just 0.4km long and barely 0.3km wide, and its coastline runs for less than 2km - for about $10K and spent the next 50 years, with the help of Rene Antoine Lafortune, clearing the invasive species and replanting the island. Grimshaw is on the right.
He also re-introduced native wildlife like the Seychelles giant tortoise and turned the island into a pocket paradise. He turned down $50 million for the island and, after Lafortune's death, instead set up a trust that made Moyenne the world's smallest national park...hopefully protecting it forever.
His father eventually came to live with him, and both are buried on the island alongside the graves of two unknown people Grimshaw always assumed were pirates. There's a small restaurant and a museum dedicated to the work Grimshaw and Lafortune did but that's the extent of development. The rest of the island...
He also re-introduced native wildlife like the Seychelles giant tortoise and turned the island into a pocket paradise. He turned down $50 million for the island and, after Lafortune's death, instead set up a trust that made Moyenne the world's smallest national park...hopefully protecting it forever.
His father eventually came to live with him, and both are buried on the island alongside the graves of two unknown people Grimshaw always assumed were pirates. There's a small restaurant and a museum dedicated to the work Grimshaw and Lafortune did but that's the extent of development. The rest of the island...
Love this The people vandalizing Stonehenge could learn from this. This is how you do positive change.
When I see the word Brazilian I think of DE-forestation instead of RE-forestation.
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