Word: paraiso
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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From her field office in the town of Alto Paraiso, 150 miles north of Brasilia, Mitraud bears a message to locals that is a delicate mix of dire warnings and creative alternatives. Unless you take steps now, she says--use natural fertilizers, market the cerrado's evergreen flowers and fruits, or turn county-size chunks of the region into nature parks for tourists--your children will inherit a wasteland. The message seems to be getting through: in and around Alto Paraiso, a fourth of the residents live off enterprises that don't involve trashing the land...
...even Mitraud knows there's a battle ahead and that the real challenge comes in spreading environmental passion to a much larger community. "All I can do is implement the process," says Mitraud, as she hurries to another meeting in Alto Paraiso. "If within five years I don't feel like I can leave here, then we've failed." But Mitraud's evangelism seems to be taking root. Says Irani Avelino Nascimento, an unemployed quartz miner turned park guide: "Before, I abused the environment and got little out of it," he says. "Now I respect it and earn a better...
...With reporting by Jack Epstein/Alto Paraiso...