AUT: African Tour and Emergency in Brazil

[Jonathan Haber <micropho@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear friends,	

        I thought you may be interested in the information in my letter to
President Clinton about the loss of the Yanomami and the millions of acres
of rainforests and grasslands in northern Brazil. I just now heard of the
fires that have been going on for two months. Maybe our collective voice or
expression can help redirect policies that are impacting our global
civilization with such destructive tendencies. If we act soon, we can curb
the tide of destruction from Global Warming. I am fortunate that I am
working with the development of solar technologies. Anyone who is interested
in this work, please let me know. However, acknowledging the loss of the
Yanomami and their interrelationship with our lives and homes are the
primary reason why I am sharing.  Please feel free to copy, revise and use
the below letter.

Take care, with best regards,
Jonathan

ps: Please let me know if you rather not have received this email.



Dear President Clinton:

        This letter is to request your consideration of expanding or
rearranging your African tour to include a visit to Brazil.  You must know
about the millions of acres of grasslands and rainforests now being
destroyed by fires, which are predicted to continue for another month.  The
Yanomami, the largest existing pre-Columbian tribe is losing their home,
their way of life. The fires, like the ones in Malaysia, add more carbon
elements into the atmosphere.  It seems that the intensification of this El
Nino year could be related to Global Warming.

        Your visit and paying respect to the Yanomami and acknowledging the
loss of rainforests could help redirect our destruction of the world to the
challenging of industries to develop technologies more benign to the
environment. We, also, should take special care of all the remaining forests
that purify the air we breathe.

        Your leadership and Al Gore's support of this would be appreciated.

        Below, is the text I downloaded from the New York Times online, 3/21/98.

        Best Regards,
        Jonathan M. Haber


Fires in Brazil Leave Behind a Lunar Moon Landscape

Millions of acres of northern Brazil's grassland have been burned the past
two months by fires that are also affecting the rain forest and threatening
the forest home of the Yanomami Indians, the world's largest Stone Age
tribe. Drought has caused brush-clearing fires set by farmers to burn out of
control.

By REUTERS

               AO PAULO -- Brazil agreed Saturday to accept Venezuela's help
in combating massive fires ravaging the northern Amazon, and firefighters
sent by Caracas were already deploying on the border, officials said.

          "The Brazilian government Sunday agreed to receive help from
Venezuela and the Venezuelans are setting up camp on the border," said a
government spokeswoman for  Brazil's northern state of Roraima.

          In Caracas, a civil defense official confirmed Venezuela planned
to assist Brazil.

          He declined to give details but said National Civil Defense chief
Col. Angel Freytez  planned a news conference at 11 a.m. Sunday in Caracas.
"The news conference is about  the emergency in Brazil, in Roraima," he said.

          Roraima state officials said 100 Venezuelan firefighters were
being sent to the Pacaraima region of Roraima on Brazil's northern border
and were setting up camp near the Santa Elena frontier post to prevent the
fire spreading across the border.

          In a statement, the officials said Freytez met with Brazil's civil
defense Gen. Edmundo de Carvalho, who is coordinating the firefighting
effort in Roraima, to discuss strategy.

          It quoted Freytez as saying Venezuela's offer of help was "an act
of solidarity." Sources, however, said small patches of fire also had begun
to break out on Venezuelan soil.

          The Venezuelans join 120 Argentines and hundreds of Brazilian
firefighters, police and soldiers already battling the flames in Roraima.

          Unchecked for two months, the fast-moving fires scorched more than
1.5 million acres of savannah and rainforest in two months. Drought as a
result of the El Nino weather  phenomenon and high winds have left Brazil's
northern Amazon brittle and susceptible to fast-moving forest fires.



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