Deforestation Satire

[Dallas Querry]

Thisspring, after reading Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, a brilliantly satirical, magical realist novel by author Karen Tei Yamashita that explores the myriad deleterious effects of deforestation in Brazil, the students in my Literature and the Environment course were lucky to have a visit from Karen herself. Following her visit to my class, Karen sat down with me for a conversation about her work, the importance of narrative in the anthropocene, and the connections between climate change and immigration.

Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of Letters to Memory, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Brazil-Maru, Tropic of Orange, Circle K Cycles, I Hotel, and Anime Wong, all published by Coffee House Press. I Hotel was selected as a finalist for the National Book Award and awarded the California Book Award, the American Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Award, and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award. Yamashita has been a US Artists Ford Foundation Fellow and co-holder of the University of California Presidential Chair for Feminist & Critical Race & Ethnic Studies. She is currently Professor Emeritus of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Contact.

As the Greek economy maintains its slide towards default and the global climate continues to change for the worse, one organisation, writing in Biotropica, has come up with some novel answers to both problems. Reforest the country to offset historic deforestation and reintroduce long extinct animals such as lions, boosting the economy through eco-tourism.

The Coalition of Financially Challenged Countries With Lots of Trees (CoFCCLoT) also count the introduction of wild gorillas to Spain and the return of forests in G8 nations back to pre-industrial levels, among its suggestions for global sustainability.

CoFCCLoT of course does not exist. However, argue Erik Meijaard and Douglas Sheil, from the University of Queensland and the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation respectively, this fictitious organization's demands are an example of the effective use of satire to bridge seemingly impassable gaps in the understanding of politically contentious issues.

"Mockery is seldom part of the scientific approach, but it is effective when it comes to sustainability and the environment," said Meijaard. "Scientists tend to approach problems using objective logic and data, ignoring the emotional content and subjective values. Conservation science is especially vulnerable as it is about values as much as facts."

The use of satire to cut to the heart of a crisis has a noble history stretching back to 1729 and Jonathan Swifts Modest Proposal to consider cannibalism as an answer to the economic plight of the improvised Irish community. It is this tradition, Meijaard and Sheil argue, which should be embraced by climate and conservation communicators today.

In their Biotropica paper Meijaard and Sheil consider a range of issues to compare the demands 'the West' makes of the developing world and how this contrasts hypocritically with how western consumers and politicians view their own actions. For example it's perceived that 'the West' lambasts developing economies for focusing on cash crops, while remaining firmly attached to the resulting morning cup of coffee.

"An effective use of satire and humor can clarify the social, political or ethical obstacles to which conservation science is often blind," concluded Sheil. "These obstacles play a major role in the political impasse to combating problems such as climate change. Using satire to force a reader to consider an issue from a surprising new angle, even if that angle is ridiculous, can help bridge the gap in perspectives."

The event was presented by Mass Media at Berkeley Law, a new student organization launched by three former journalists: 2Ls Nicole Antonuccio, former art director at The Onion and a founding member of Clickhole who interviewed Gillis; Devanshi Patel, former managing editor of The Juggernaut; and Caroline Lester, an award-winning writer and audio producer.

Onion Managing Editor Jordan LaFlure and Gillis talked to a mutual friend who works at the Institute for Justice, which helped represent Novak. Lawyers there supplied supporting cases and legal arguments for why parody need not use disclaimers, and Onion writers blended them with biting satire into a classic legal writing structure.

South Park took a swing at some conservationist clichs, but here in Costa Rica, we stand proudly by them. Despite past struggles with deforestation, our country has made groundbreaking strides in conservation efforts. Costa Rica reversed deforestation through legislation that prohibits clearing forests without proper permits. Moreover, the government incentivized residents to protect the forest, illustrating a transformative approach that prioritizes preservation over destructive practices.

To understand how satire can influence an audience, several researchers have looked at climate change. One of them is Paul Brewer, a communications researcher at the University of Delaware, who got his first faculty job around the time Jon Stewart took over hosting The Daily Show in 1999. Brewer at first used the show as a teaching tool. Then, because a lot of his students watched it, he realized it might make a good research subject.

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Since schools shut down last spring, throwing teachers and students into the deep end of virtual teaching literally overnight, questions about how school was going to work in the fall have abounded. And as hopes of a normal school year have been dashed by continuing viral spread and a rising death toll through the summer, schools have had to scramble to figure out the best way to safely meet everyone's needs.

Dena Blizzard of One Funny Mother shared a parody video of a school administrator explaining the "simple hybrid model" for pandemic schooling, and oh my word, does it ever nail what parents are experiencing across the country.

Shariya Small experienced that scenario in a hospital in Indiana, and her nurse Katrina Mullen took note. Small's babies were premature, born at just 26 weeks, when the average gestation for triplets is 33 weeks, according to ReproductiveFacts.org. Due to their early birth, the babies, Serenitee, Samari and Sarayah, had to stay in the NICU at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis for more than five months, according to Today.com.

The pair got to know each other over the months that the babies were in the hospital, but Small continued to be reluctant to open up about her family life. That changed after she found out that Mullen had her first child at 16 and had given it up for adoption. Their experiences bonded the two moms, and Mullen began helping to care for the babies and Small by giving her advice and showing her how to properly care for the infants.

Eventually, Mullen gave Small her phone number before the babies were discharged from the hospital. It quickly became apparent that Small did not have a support system, as she called Mullen often asking for advice. Out of concern, the nurse went to visit Small an hour away, where she was living with a family member.

The condition of the home was concerning enough, but Mullen became even more worried when she saw how thin Small's son Samari was. It turns out he had to be admitted to the hospital, which prompted a visit from Child Protective Services, who determined that Small and her three infants would need to enter foster care. She gave the social worker Mullen's information and things began to fall into place.

Quint posted a thread on her Twitter account that quickly went viral in which she talked about a number of real-life encounters with men that started out sexual, involved her expressing disinterest, and the men responding appropriately.

It wasn't an unrealistic hero's tale of men handing over the keys to their autonomy. Rather, Quint's incredible thread made it clear that the only variable in cases of assault vs. non-assault are when a man doesn't respect the autonomy of the woman he's propositioning.

Her thread has been re-tweeted nearly 50,000 times and "liked" more than 100,000 times. Other women and some men jumped in with their own tales of drinking, partying and still, somehow, managing to not assault or even harass the women they encountered.

It's a stark contrast to the half-baked defenses of Brett Kavanaugh and other men like him. There are incredibly rare exceptions where a man is accused of assault or harassment and he is entirely free of guilt. But for women, or anyone for that matter, who has survived sexual assault or experienced sexual harassment, there is no "gray area."

There's being OK with assault and then there's everything else. Whether or not we're consciously aware of this, we've all chosen a side. But if you're on the wrong side, it doesn't have to be that way forever.

One of the biggest problems with coffee production is that it generates an incredible amount of waste. Once coffee beans are separated from cherries, about 45% of the entire biomass is discarded.

So for every pound of roasted coffee we enjoy, an equivalent amount of coffee pulp is discarded into massive landfills across the globe. That means that approximately 10 million tons of coffee pulp is discarded into the environment every year.

However, a new study published in the British Ecological Society journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence has found that coffee pulp isn't just a nuisance to be discarded. It can have an incredibly positive impact on regrowing deforested areas of the planet.

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