Sex and the Canopy
- 4 May 08, 03:16 PM
Posted from: LBA Research centre, 2 hrs north of Manaus
During one of the Seven Days, God decided to get to grips with planting trees. He spent most of the morning sprinkling a few here, and planting a few there. He covered most of the world with them. Then He looked at Wales, and decided to make it even more beautiful by fiddling a bit with the coastline around Pembroke. On his way over, he dropped the half-used packet of assorted tree seeds all over the Amazon. Hence the Amazon has more than its fair share of trees - in fact, one hectare of the Amazon contains more species than the whole of the North American continent.
Now this whole area is under massive scientific scrutiny. Scientists from all over the world are here. Bruce joined one called Allessandro to learn more of the importance of this region with respect to global warming and its effect as a carbon sink. Two wonderful tree climbers ('arbonaughts') were brought over from the UK to help Bruce and Allessandro climb to the top of the tallest tree in the area to see the jungle from above the canopy and do an experiment overnight from their lofty position.
I think I was 13 when I first saw a photograph looking over the canopy into the sunrise and imagined I was there. About 100 metres from Bruce's 'emergent' tree was a scientific tower built of scaffolding. I took one look at it. I'd rather climb the tree. I'd rather eat my right leg than climb that tower. It must have been at least five miles high and about six feet square.
Keith considers the relative merits of climbing the tower or eating his leg
After about an hour, Zubin and I were looking down on the canopy and deciding which bit of foot to put onto which bit of scaffold when I saw Bruce. He was up his tree in a special hammock, swinging over the canopy and trying to help Allesandro get into his. Seeing all of the ropework and dangly things attached to Bruce I decided that the tower was for me after all.
Bruce swings around in the canopy
Things became less dangly as I was overcome with an overwhelming sense of the procreative. Having just emerged from the canopy floor with its young rampant growth heaving heavenward - vines intertwining, locked in the sinuous embrace of lustful survival - I saw the result of all that rapacious effort in the form of a blanket of huge trees as far as the eye could see. The canopy rested as the new day brought wisps of mist and a timeless peace.
It brought the inevitable mozzies, and I was forced to wear my new mozzie weapon in the form of a body suit sewn with a double layer of silk. I had it made in Manaus. The only silk available was a leopard skin print. It worked. Not a single bite. Maybe the mozzies just ran away laughing - no energy left for biting. The crew certainly did. So I filmed Bruce up a 50 metre tower, in his hammock as he awoke rubbing his eyes and taking in the most awesome of views - in my leopard skin suit and feeling the rampant vibes of the canopy.
Bruce and Alessandro continued with the experiment in the most dangerous conditions under the watchful eyes of James and Ollie, our tree-climbing experts. Always amazed at Bruce's tenacity and honesty - Zubin and I filmed him for most of the morning from our precarious perch - and learnt of the effect of carbon dioxide on global warming and the importance of this fantastic eye-stretching jungle on the planet. I on the other hand was also feeling the rampancy of the canopy in my leopard skin suit. Time to come down.
The view from top
We arrived back in Manaus to be welcomed by our millionaire party boy Tony - who had plans for us. He took us to an open air 'rave' by the public swimming pool. Here is where the real Manausians partied. Here amongst 600 or so young twirling Brazillians we became engulfed in the rhythm of the region. We danced in puddles - and it was here that I learned more of the 'Brazilian Way'. People came here to dance. I've never seen dancing like it. Sinuous steps and moves learnt from the womb. Intricate steps and eyes transfixed in another place. Total dance. The last time I saw anything like this was at a smoky tango club in Buenos Aires and I was spellbound then.
Here the urgency was as gripping as the atmosphere. All entwining and swirling to a beat that was totally involving. All I could do was watch and see the pink dawn slowly break over the city skyscrapers. All this entwining and twirling reminded me of the forest. This was just the same. I imagined being on top of those skyscrapers looking down on the canopy of Manaus.
This is truly a city of the jungle. Down on the floor - the urgency and rhythm, the entwining and dancing - straining to achieve the rampancy of the canopy. I never believed as a teenager, looking into that photograph, that this would be so special and involving. An unbelievably important place, to be protected through the education of those it belongs to. To be nurtured by us all. I will never forget the canopy and its unique environmental role in the future of our planet. It is under threat. We are all responsible. What a privilege to be a part of the message.
The canopy. A very, very special place to be.
Find out more about deforestation.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~20~RS~)
Comments
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How diverse are the indiginous people the 'Tribe team' encountered, with respect to their beliefs and ancestoral practices?
Was it possible to establish (for those who still retain a significant 'hunter;gatherer ethos and practice) If their techniques and diet have altered because of climatic; environmental; species reduction; population density demands?
As European illness's descimate some of the indiginous groups, have they themselves been able to combat some of the illness effects by using different plant extracts?
Have the team filmed any 'healing rituals' or are self - treatment practices identical by virtue of the plants used?
Were the living quarters of different groups in anyway linked to the indiginous groups beliefs, or soley dependant on available materials and 'urbanised experience'?
Thanks
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The blogs are by my fav part of this site. The earlier blogs, especially Steve and Matt's made for particularly great reading as they painted a funny realistic picture of the ups and downs of the amazing Amazon adventure. Lately it's all got a bit patting each other on the back. Come on guys, Bruce has lived with tribes all over the world and surely does not need to read how wonderful he is in every blog. As it reads it's all turned into quite a holiday with lots of sugary backslapping. Wheres the adventure! Come on team!! we know you love each other but it doesn't make for great reading outside of your circle or for good adventure. Whe I read these I hope to be taken into a world far away and not into someones jolly.
Nat, an avid "Tribe fan"
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I am, after watching the 1st episode just as sad and bewildered as i've always been regarding the human race.
Don't get me wrong, there were times in this episode, mostly involving the children, that made me smile, but what hope for the future of humanity?
How would I go about opening minds to viewing the whole picture, and not just the one the media in it's various propagandist forms represents?
I feel this programme asks questions of people. As sad as it seems it isn't just this subject that we need to ask questions of and have an open mind, everything begs a question.
There are so many so called black and white images in this world whether they be cultural, religious, political, animal wellfare,l or survival, this is just one of many.
How can we give a black and white answer?
Nothing is black and white. we only have to open our minds to see that.
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BTW:
This voice will be as unheard as all the peoples of the world, and our Mother Earth, who will, after so much polution, death and destruction survive long after we have gone the same way as the dinosaur.
The universe explodes into life, grows and implodes, just as the earth, and the life upon her has. Things may look chaotic, but from the micro to the macro in time and space there will be more repeats than the BBC could ever dream of.
I wish I could express myself more coherantly than this. Sometimes words are not enough.
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Bruce
You're quite right to say that burning the forest adds CO2 to the atmosphere, and your trip up into the canopy looked like a lot of fun. However, you have made one too many assumptions about the effect of photoshynthesis. Plants respire too, and so do the animals which eat them, and the fungi and other microbes which break them down when they are dead. The net effect of all this is that the forest is a net carbon 'sink' only when it is growing - there is a limit to how much biomass can accumulate, and all the respiration going on will make a mature rainforest 'carbon neutral'.
There are plenty of reasons to conserve the forest, but conservation can only slow down - and not reverse - CO2 accumulation, and hence global warming.
Paul
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Paul,
You are quite wrong. There are multiple streams of evidence, biomass plots, carbon dioxide eexchange of forests, global atmospheric inversions, which point to (but do not agree completely on) the Amazon being a huge sink of carbon. The figure quoted 600 mT, is about the average of these.
The reason is, probably, CO2 fertilization, from increasing atmospheric concentration, leading to increased growth rates and storage below ground.
You are right to advocate that forests alone cannot be the sink for all of our emissions, especially if they are only functioning as sinks becsaue of the CO2 disequilibrium, but you are wrong (and quite out of date) in your statements about mature forests being in carbon balance. We have known this was not the case since 1995. Those guys he interviewed are some of the top experts in the world on Amazon carbon cycle science - they are not talking rubbish.
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