What Would James Cameron Think of Brazil's Forest Communities?

After the glow from Avatar faded, many of the movie's junkies found themselves depressed, knowing that they'd never get to experience the beauty of the world of Pandora firsthand.

Actually, they can. It's a world that's home to the Ambé community in Brazil’s Amazon region — a place to me that seems as beautiful as any portrayed in Pandora. At least, to me it does. There, residents live off the earth’s product, work together and don’t consume more than what they need.

Then why doesn’t it receive the media attention it deserves? Because it isn't blessed with a James Cameron-style figure intent on capturing its charms.

After all, environmental tragedies (BP's spill comes to mind) tend to receive far more media attention than stories that educate us on how to best to actually protect our environment.But if you were to look for one such example of good environmental stewardship, look no further than the Ambé community.

Located in the dense Tapajós National Forest in the heart of the Amazon, the Ambé Project is a group of 29 forest communities that promote sustainable forest management. Since 2005, operating with funds from IBAMA (Brazil’s environmental agency) and international donors, the community has been practicing "responsible" logging that curbs deforestation and improves the local economy.

How exactly does cutting trees save trees? Rather than encourage rampant logging of young growth, residents target old trees and trees not currently needed for seeding. They later auction timber to local companies, which earned them a total of $ 2 million just last year.

The project functions as a cooperative, several of which there are in the Tapajós reserve, some which promote eco tourism, and others which sell wood products from responsible logging and make garments of rainforest rubber (dubbed “ecological leather").

Cooperatives such as these are an important force in the push for sustainable development. Today, 17% of climate change-fueling emissions are released by deforestation, the process of chopping and burning forests, often with little regard for concerns about sustainability. Forest co-ops not only save trees, they live off of their surroundings, without destroying them. In Brazil, they're also part of a broader effort to protect the country's ecological heritage — already, 43% of the Amazon has been put aside for conservation and its indigenous inhabitants.

As the world continues to confront the challenge of climate change, it's communities like Ambé's that deserve a greater share of the spotlight. Perhaps the forest they protect isn't populated with blue-skinned people, and nor is it a utopia. But when it comes to sustainable living, there's plenty to learn from what they're doing.

I think James Cameron would agree.

Photo Credit: DigitalFreak