Plain farming?

The Moshen Mosfavi text made me think about my parents refusing to buy an AC unit while I was growing up. My siblings and I begged for my parents to buy an AC unit, but they refused, and it was not because of economic reasons. They just thought it was a totally unnecessary item, and a contribution to harming nature. My mom, instead of having an AC unit, filled the porch around the house with trees and plants. Going to the main street, and walking back to her porch felt like entering a rain forest. Indeed, the plants and trees made a difference in the temperature of the house. I remember how many people used stand under my parents’ front trees by the street to wait for the buses. My siblings and I could not understand my parents' attitude then, but looking back today, I see their reasoning.

When the Portuguese arrived in Brazil, they cut down all the Mata Atlantic (the east coastal rain florest) around the Rio de Janeiro area. Recognizing the drought and erosion that cutting down the flora caused in the area, the second emperor of Brazil replanted the local vegetation, and designated an area for a national park in the mid 1800’s. The most interesting thing was that his perception was correct, and the water came back and the erosion stopped.

Looking at my projects in architecture school, I realize how much my parents’ thoughts influenced me. It seems that my projects have either water or plants, or both in them. Even now when I go to Brazil, my mom asks me, "Do you remember when you were a kid and we used to have frosts in the mornings during the winter time?" However, today nothing like that has happened in the past 30 years, and my parents have to have an AC window unit in each bedroom of their house because of the unbearable heat.

Today, living in a time when people do not believe in climate change is very sad to me. When I read Moshen Mosfavi asking, “Ecological Urbanism, is that not an oxymoron in the same way that a hybrid SUV is an oxymoron?”  just strengthens the ideas I have mentioned in previous blogs. Words like "organic," "sustainable," and "eco-friendly" have just become a marketing tool to make money. Like a friend of mine once said, “Organic? Organic? I just thought that meant plain old farming to me.”  Unfortunately, I don’t think people will believe in changing the way we live until something really drastic happens.


 

Tijuca National Park (View from Pedra Bonita)
www.vitormarigo.com.br

Tijuca Florest area
http://www.adventurezone.com.br