Life "à la carte"

Life “à la carte”

This website publishes articles covering a great scope of subjects which have little to do with Brazilian ecology in general and our spectacular bromeliads in particular. Why is this?

The best answer was offered by Chief Seattle more than a century ago and stands valid to this day.

  “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together.All things connect.” Chief Seattle

The real world has no frontiers. All things are bound together. Nature is blind to political borders and other vain creations of men when deciding to release its force upon us. Natural disasters in Nepal, Somalia, Paris or California may not affect my egg nest in Rio, but they do hurt folks that are powerless in face of calamities. Just like me. We all share the same planet.

This website is about celebrating life, a complex mix of ingredients. Take the simplest form of living being. Is it plural, that is, the result of many elements united for one purpose, or a single element? Understanding and accepting the nature of things are lessons many of us need to learn. There is no such thing as life “à la carte”.

Brazilian biomes are being destroyed at alarming rates for decades. Unpunishably. Little is left of the Mata Atlântica, Cerrado (Savannah) and Caatinga. What is there to celebrate?

My experience in the wild is not academic and the alarming destruction I observe and register are very real. Consequences are brutally ignored. Frustrated as I might be with this situation, I still look for remote sites to explore. These experiences I share with viewers thru my photos and texts posted on Bromeliad Habitats. Without confining myself to this or that subject, I cover what I please. After all, what is a book to its author? Nothing different, I suspect, from a website to its creator, right?

Chief Seattle also said: “What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.” In this perspective, why shouldn´t I divulge the scientific findings that explains the bond between humans and dogs, man´s best friend? Folks living in farms marvel at their relation with horses, livestock, birds, plants. So do I, whenever I have the chance to escape from the metropolis.

We are shaped by our experiences. In 1971 I was visiting Mumbai – formerly Bombay -, India at the peak of the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan which generated mass migration and undescribed suffering to millions, regardless of race, social class and beliefs. There and then I grasped the value of human life and the importance of compassion for all things. Aren´t they all connected?

Vive la vie! Tutto passa. Obrigado, Oscar.