TERRE HAUTE —
As the dengue virus worked through Stephen Aldrich’s blood stream, he felt feverish and nauseous. His body ached.
“That was kind of a bummer,” the Indiana State University professor said of getting sick on his first trip to the Amazon.
More than a mosquito bite infected Aldrich on that trip to Brazil. Along with catching dengue, he also caught a bug for the place that continues to be the focus of his research today.
Aldrich, assistant professor of geography in the department of earth and environmental systems, and a team of researchers recently received a more than $157,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to expand his doctoral research on land conflicts affecting the deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil. Of the total, more than $83,000 was marked for ISU. As a doctoral student, Aldrich spent three years conducting fieldwork in Marabá, Brazil, a town he likened to the Wild West. In that area 80 percent of cleared land had been devoted to cattle ranching, which the government encouraged through subsidies.
A unique combination of dispossessed rural poor, large landholders and a quirky Brazilian constitution coalesced to become a danger to the Amazon forests. For many years people eked out livings through sustenance farming, including the collection of first rubber, then Brazil nuts, from trees growing on public lands in the Amazonian forests.
When government officials decided to lease large tracts of the previously public land, wealthy landowners took possession of what had been a communal resource and forced the farmers off the land. The subsistence farmers became known as the landless, the dispossessed. However a quirk in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 allowed land to be taken away from a large land owner if the owner fails to manage it or the social good.
“The social movements would make a strong argument that it wasn’t a strong producer,” Aldrich said.
The landless began moving onto the private land claiming the owner failed to use it for public good. While it has led to violent clashes between the wealthy landowners and the landless, it also has led to further deforestation as both sides rush to remove trees to show they are using the land.
In his doctoral research, Aldrich found that for every conflict between large land owners and the poor removed from the land, that the Amazon would lose about 60 acres of forest.
“That doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s per event,” he said.
Through researching newspaper records in Marabá, Aldrich found 5,000 articles reporting on conflicts between property owners and groups moving onto property.
With the NSF grant, Aldrich plans to extend his analysis to look at whether the landless or land owners deforest the most land. He and the team, which includes Cynthia Simmons, an associate professor of geography at Michigan State University, and Eugenio Arima, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Texas-Austin,also plan to evaluate the landscape ecology, where the patches of remaining forest are and if they’re connected to each other.
“The goal of the NSF proposal is to take the analysis and really push it to see how people make decisions about property,” he said.
The deforestation of the Amazon has become an important issue globally since it is known as the earth’s lungs as it works to remove carbon dioxide from the air. With fewer and fewer acres of trees to clear air, the deforestation contributes to global warming.The Amazon also provides a home to a stunning diversity of plants and animals, many of which helped humans derive various medications.
“We derive a lot of benefits, some we see daily and some more abstractly,” Aldrich said. “We will look at all sorts of things and learn why people make the environmental decisions that they do.”
Schools
Professor receives grant to study deforestation in Amazon
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: Montgomery Meigs establishes Arlington National Cemetery
This week (June 15) in 1864, Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who had been appointed Quartermaster General of the Union Army in 1861, established Arlington House, the former home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, as a cemetery for the Union’s soldiers. Today Arlington National Cemetery is America’s national military burial ground.
- Vigo County School Corp. High School Honor Roll
- Goals, Pride & Achievements: June 13, 2013
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: This week in 1944: D-Day and the Airborne assault on Normandy
This week (June 5) in 1944, with the D-Day invasion of the Nazi-occupied Normandy coast set to begin, the man in charge of that invasion, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, paid a special visit to members of the U.S. 82nd and the 101st Airborne.
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Terre Haute North, South African-American clubs taking educational journey to Washington, D.C.
Students and teachers from Terre Haute North and South Vigo high schools saw three years of hard work pay off Monday afternoon as they lined up eagerly at the doors of a school bus to start a long ride to Washington, D.C.
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BRUCE’S HISTORY LESSONS: A woman’s voice of moral clarity
This week (June 1) in 1950, Margaret Chase Smith, the Republican senator from Maine and the first woman ever to serve as both a U.S. senator and member of the House of Representatives, gave a speech that, looking back, was a voice of moral clarity amidst a cacophony of madness and vilification.
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Education-technology grants given to Valley
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz has announced the 2013 Technology Resource Grants, awarded to help organizations purchase technology resources for student instruction in career and technical educations classrooms.
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Turkey Run presents academic awards
Turkey Run High School freshmen, sophomores and juniors were honored at an awards program on May 16.
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Goals, Pride & Achievements
Laci Pethtel of Oblong is the 2013 recipient of the Lincoln Trail College Professional Assistants Group scholarship.
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VCSC to offer summer meals
Sarah Scott Middle School will offer free breakfast and lunch for people 18 years old and younger Monday through June 20.
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Road Runners name scholarship winners
The Wabash Valley Road Runners have named Anne Mullican and Justin Clapp as the recipients of the 2013 WVRR scholarships.
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South student blazes competition with research
Ryan Chung, a junior at Terre Haute South Vigo High School, placed first at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in the computer science category.
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Indiana State University Dean’s List
Indiana State University has announced its dean’s list for the spring 2013 semester. Area students recognized for their academic achievement include:
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RP recognizes outstanding students
Riverton Parke High School’s class of 2013 was honored on May 15 at the annual senior awards night in the school’s cafetorium.
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Student blood donors receive scholarships
Roche Diagnostics and Indiana Blood Center are recognizing 81 high school seniors in Indiana who participate in community service.
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Bruce’s History Lessons: Morse’s telegraph and its impact as a ‘game changer’
This week (May 24) in 1844, Professor Samuel F.B. Morse sat in the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., surrounded by members of Congress, who had come to witness history.
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High schoolers attend automotive, welding skills competitions
Area high school students put their skills to the test at the annual Automotive Skills and Welding Skills competitions on April 18 at Ivy Tech Community College—Wabash Valley.
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Riverton Parke presents concert, music awards
The Riverton Parke Jr.-Sr. High School Music Department presented its annual Spring Concert on May 13 in the school gymnasium.
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Turkey Run senior awards and honors
Turkey Run High School seniors were honored at an awards program May 13. Scholarships and departmental and activity awards were presented.
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South earns national yearbook design honor
The Terre Haute South yearbook, Uaxactun, has been recognized for excellence and featured in the 2013 Gotcha Covered Look Book, Volume 11 celebrating the best-of-the-best in yearbook design and coverage.
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Vincennes University Dean’s List
The Vincennes University Dean’s List for Spring 2013 includes students from the Vincennes campus, Jasper campus, Aviation Technology Center in Indianapolis, military bases, and other extended sites.
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4 more honored as Four Star Schools
In addition to the three Vigo County schools (Terre Haute South Vigo High School, Dixie Bee Elementary and Fayette Elementary schools) that were announced earlier, four more Wabash Valley schools were recognized as Indiana Four Star Schools.
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Bruce’s history lessons: Truman’s decision to recognize Israel
This week (May 14) in 1948, at the direction of President Harry Truman, the United States recognized the existence of the newly formed state of Israel, which had declared independence earlier that day. It was, Truman later stated, among the most important decisions of his presidency.
- Reunion listings: May 16, 2013
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Chances and Services for Youth to participate in food program
The Chances and Services for Youth recently announced plans to participate in the Summer Food Service Program.
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South Latin students compete at convention
Terre Haute South Vigo High School Latin students competed with other Indiana schools at the recent state convention at ISU.
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Southwest Parke School Corp. receives eLearning grant
Southwest Parke Community School Corp. has received an Imagining and Creating eLearning grant for the 2013-2014 school year through the Indiana Department of Education.
- Newsmakers: May 16, 2013
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Otter Creek competes in regional Academic Super Bowl
The Otter Creek Academic Super Bowl teams competed in the regional Academic Super Bowl competition on April 27 at Sarah Scott Middle School.
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Riverton Parke FFA teams compete at April 16 contest
Two Riverton Parke FFA Parliamentary Procedure Teams competed at the section competition for the Parliamentary Procedure Demonstration Contest on April 16 at the Indiana FFA Center in Trafalgar.
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