Back and forth, back and forth. My hammock swings side to side like the hand of a metronome. I think I am in 3/4 time; a nice slow waltz. Tick, tick, tick. Nothing rushes in Brazil. Even the women who walk the beaches match this slow and methodic beat, as if they were walking down the fashion runway, each step originating from their hips- long, and elegant. I have had to adjust my walk and my watch. No one rushes; there is no hurry.
Despite the slow beat here in Belem, my time here runs away from me at an allegro pace. On August 7th I will have been here for two whole months. Two whole months and I have a measly little tan to show for it. But that is a testament to my time at Imazon. If I could get a tan from the fluorescent glow of my computer screen, well lets just say I would have quite the tan! My project at Imazon is coming along well. Amintas – my IDRISI guru – and I have a preliminary model working to delineate the most suitable locations for reforestation projects in Paragominas, however issues with a lack of available data continue to plague us at each corner. Look left: no land opportunity cost data. Look right: cloudy satellite data (clouds obscure the satellite image and thus its overall quality/integrity).
The current data deadlock has not derailed progress. I am pushing ahead to design a preliminarily outline for a short publication. It will complement an Imazon publication series called: "The State of the Amazon." The State of the Amazon contains policy briefs designed to alert policy makers as well as the public about current issues flourishing in the Amazon.
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