José Lutzenberger was the greatest environmentalist in the history of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and is known nationally for his contribution to environmental issues. In 1987, he created the Fundação Gaia (Gaia Foundation) which works in the area of environmental education and promotion of socially compatible soft technologies such as regenerative agriculture (organic farming), sustainable management of the natural resources, natural medicine, decentralized energy production and alternative sanitation. Learn a bit more about this story told by the environmentalist’s daughter Lara Lutzenberger.

How did the Fundação Gaia come to be, and, what are the main actions undertaken by it?

The Fundação Gaia was set up in 1987 by my father, the environmentalist José Lutzenberger. The primary objective has always been to make a contribution to a more sustainable society. At first, the focus was on establishing our rural headquarters – the Rincão Gaia located 120km from Porto Alegre/RS. On a lunar, barren landscape due to the basalt mining, a lovely place was created, which joins the preservation of the biodiversity and creation of landscaped areas with water management, ethical animal breeding, food production, and premises that fit perfectly into the landscape.

Also, at the same time, and until the end of the 90s, we had been working to actively promote organic farming andstrengthen family farming as legitimate sources of food safety, socio-cultural and environmental wealth. Relying on a team of agronomists, we promoted regenerative methods of cultivation and the consolidation of outdoor markets where both the farmer and the consumer establish a direct and personal contact. This pioneering process prompted the organic production that has been growing in the state of Rio Grande do Sul ever since, but in a more independent way now.

From the end of the 90s on, we began to focus on encouraging the cultural change with the promotion of environmental awareness and attitudes, especially through workshops, courses, and experiences offered in Rincão Gaia. Parallelly, we developed a comprehensive environmental program of community mobilization in Garopaba/SC and offered consulting services in environmental education, performance of biodiversity surveys, alternative sanitation, and natural landscaping.

Your father, José Lutzenberger, was the greatest environmentalist in the history of Rio Grande do Sul; he is known both nationally and internationally for his contribution to environmental issues. What does continuing such great initiatives for the planet feel like?

What keeps me going me is love and pride I feel for my father and love and a sense of responsibility that he taught me to feel for the large earth community that we are part of. I understand that this was the greatest legacy he left me: I see myself as co-responsible for the development of life in the entirety of its manifestations, trying to get engaged seriously for the common well-being and encouraging others to follow the same path.

According to Lutzenberger, “O Manifesto Ecológico Brasileiro – o fim do futuro?” (The Brazilian Ecological Manifesto – the end of the future?) which was published more than 30 years ago would serve as a warning to environmentalists, scientists, and people concerned about the imminent threats that humanity was about to face. Do you consider the present time as the beginning of the end of the future cited by your father?

The beginning of the end of the future started 10,000 years ago when the man realized that he was able to manipulate the environment in order to satisfy his own private interests. We began to focus our existence on the production and consumption of goods until we got to the industrial revolution and consolidated the current economy of the globalized market, which now guides our everyday life in search of material gain and virtual profits at the expense of destroying jobs, landscapes, habitats, the entire planet, and our own health and peace of mind.

Today, we are taking the first steps in the process of reversing this reality. A process that was put in gear by people such as my father who warned about the future that would come to an end if we didn’t mobilize enough.

Your father used to say: “All countries in the world need to think about how we will save the planet”. In your opinion, how can we save the planet?

I would bring this expression up to date by saying: All and every one of us must think and act for the salvation of the planet. The solution is in the ripple effect that takes place as a sum of our individual actions. Unlike other species, we acquired a unique ability to interfere with the processes inherent to the development and maintenance of the land. However, we adopted an arrogant attitude, giving ourselves the right to subject the entire planet to our desires. But we also have a remarkable capacity to analyze, understand, and act consciously. I believe it is time we recognized our destructive and alienated attitude, relearn (even prehistoric men were aware of that) the dynamics and principles that allow the full development of life, and start adopting a more responsible attitude committed to the sustainable world that we desire. As more and more people take this stance, the process is set in motion and sped up by the resulting collective inspiration and mobilization.

The Foundation works hard on the goals of Environmental Education. What results did this work show and what is the importance of the EE in search of a more sustainable society?

Environmental education which comprehends:

1. educate in order to understand the principles, cycles and flows, i.e., the ‘physiology’ and ‘anatomy’ that ensure the integrity of life on the planet;

2. Foster a critical spirit in a world driven by commercial interests alien to and alienating from what really matters; and, last but not least

3. Stimulate the rewarding and responsible attitude;

is key to the consolidation of cultural change capable of reorienting us toward building a sustainable world, toward more peace, joy and genuine achievements. The results of the initiatives in environmental education are often vague and subjective, difficult to measure in an immediate manner, but I believe that they are effective and visible in the long term through the cultural change that is going to be established little by little. As a Buddhist saying goes: ‘a tree that falls makes a lot more noise than a forest that grows’. I see environmental education as the fertilizer of this forest which grows silently.

You are named as a successor of your father in the defense of the ecology and environment. What is the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced during the management of the Fundação Gaia?

My biggest challenge has been to awaken people to the perception of the relevance of what we offer and engage them in the process. For instance, I see how parents invest what they have, and, more often than not, what do not have, to throw birthday parties decorated with Styrofoam and plastic African elephants and lions, but are reluctant to share with their children the experiences that we offer here at Rincão Gaia, where the contact with the real flora and fauna in our landscape serves as a background for understanding the fundamentals of life, leading to my other major difficulty which is to raise the necessary funds to keep a team and structure that would allow us to operate more efficiently.

How can people help the Fundação Gaia?

By participating in our activities, contributing with their talents and ideas, and making donations that are intended to fully develop our work.

Photos: Paulo Backes/Jefferson Pietroski/Carlos Stein/Tereza Barbosa de Souza-Fundação Gaia