The Burning Season: Analysis
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the book "The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon" by Andrew Revkin. Specifically it will contain a summary of the book. "The Burning Season" tells the story of Chico Mendes, the leader of the Brazilian rubber-tappers union who was brutally murdered by opposing factions in Brazil. The 2004 edition of the book opens with a new Forward by the author, which basically explains what has gone on since the first edition of the book came out, and discusses the growing problem of climate change and global warming. In the Forward he writes, "The notion was finally beginning to emerge that humans around the world, from those driving cars in Detroit to those burning trees in Brazil, were wedded through their shared ability to alter the dynamics of the atmosphere and climate" (Revkin xiv). This then, is the real thesis of this book that chronicles the man who has become a martyr to his country and much of the world. Mendes was fighting for the rights of the rubber-tappers, but also for the rain forest, which is so rapidly disappearing, and so this book discusses his life and tragic death, but also the work he was attempting and still nee
The deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is the worst on the planet, and is a major contributor to global warming and greenhouse gases, and so, halting this destruction is not only key to the native's survival, it is key to the planet's survival, and that is what Revkin is attempting to show in this book. He knew he was a target, and yet he continued his fight until he too was gunned down. As the seasons passed, a tree's bark would come to read like a calendar kept by a prisoner on a cell wall" (Revkin 71). From the air, it looks as if it might never end, but it is clear that so much of it is being destroyed, that is just an illusion. He also shows how the tappers learned to read the trees and tap them well so they would sustain the trees as well as their livelihood. Mendes formed a union to help save the forests and the natives livelihoods, and ultimately, he paid with his life. This is also what Mendes and his followers were fighting, and what gained him worldwide attention. The author shows how the area became attractive to ranchers in the 1970s, and they wanted to take over large tracts of land for their own use. The author introduces the idea of the burning season early in the book, which is the name for the time when the landowners set fire to the jungles in an attempt to clear them for their own use. The author shows Mendes' roots in socialist thinking, and his growth and development as a grass-roots activist. Then the author begins to tell the story of the Amazon basin itself. First written in 1990, the book opens in the tiny town of Xapuri in 1988. He shows the diversity of the forest, and how modernization is making the land more valuable, leading developers and investors to sell off the land, leaving the natives who have been harvesting nuts and rubber in the region with no form of income. The author makes it clear that Mendes was a global environmentalist before it became "cool," and that his work still endures today, which is why he is studied in modern business schools as well as environmental organizations.
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