Source: Mother Nature Network
James Cameron’s Avatar is a global success, breaking records as the most fiscally successful movie ever made. In his epic story of corporate greed versus native people, Cameron highlights the need for people to live in a more environmentally responsible way. Now he’s putting his advocacy where his mouth is. The New York Times reports that the billionaire director recently traveled to Brazil to meet with threatened indigenous tribes of the Amazon.The Brazilian government plans to build the Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River, right in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. This would flood hundreds of square miles of the Amazon, dry up a 60-mile stretch of the river, and completely devastate the tribes that live along it. On April 20, the Brazilian government plans to hold an auction for contract bids, leaving the indigenous Brazilian population extremely worried. James Cameron has pledged to help them.
In the 15 years since Cameron wrote Avatar, he has lived as an environmentalist. As the NY Times reports, the director lives in a solar and wind-powered Santa Barbara home with an organic garden and hybrid cars parked in the garage. But the high-profile success of Avatar has made him an advocate for Mother Earth, and he is more than willing to participate. As Cameron told the NY Times, “the dam is a quintessential example of the type of thing we are showing in ‘Avatar’ — the collision of a technological civilization’s vision for progress at the expense of the natural world and the cultures of the indigenous people that live there.”
Recently, he met with more than 70 natives of the Brazilian rainforest. While most of the tribes didn’t know of Avatar, they did know that they were meeting with someone who could be a powerful advocate. Cameron, his wife Suzy Amis, and others toured the rain forest, examining flora and fauna that will be completely devastated by the impending dam. They heard speeches from locals expressing their frustration. Some told Cameron that they would be willing to die to stop the dam that will destroy their entire existence.
Cameron is well aware that the pressure is immense to help these people. He has written a letter to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regarding the dam and assured the populace that he would press for a meeting. And he plans to return to return this week to the Amazon with Avatar cast member Sigourney Weaver. As Cameron told the NY Times, “It’s not like there is any pressure on me or anything. These people really are looking for me to do something about their situation. We have to try to stop this dam. Their whole way of life, their society as they know it, depends on it.”