Understanding Deforestation
This primary cause of deforestation includes the illicit harvesting of wood cut down from Amazon trees to sell for a profit against government regulations and policies.
Answer: What is illegal logging? 100 points
In 2020, the Biden administration offered $20 billion in funds for forest protection to this South American country that is home to 60% of the Amazon Rainforest.
Answer: What is Brazil? 100 points.
Mining destroys land, takes water from the rivers in the Amazon, and contaminates the water and fish with this chemical element, causing illnesses in the Indigenous populations.
Answer: What is mercury? 100 points.
Workers in palm plantations around the world have contracted this disease carried by mosquitoes from macaques.
Answer: What is Malaria? 100 points.
Deforestation leads to these, which were previously contained by forests and present in its inhabitants that are now spreading to humans. (ex: malaria and dengue fever)
Answer: What are transmittable diseases? 200 points.
This current president of Brazil is working to reach net-zero deforestation in the Amazon by 2030.
Answer: Who is Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva? AKA: Lula? 200 points.
Rep. Joênia Wapichana, Brazil’s only female Indigenous representative in Congress, has called on world governments to emphasize and uphold Indigenous peoples’ rights on this international day, observed on August 9th for indigenous peoples and their communities.
Answer: International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples 200 points.
This encyclical written by Pope Francis calls Catholics and all people of good will to pay attention to climate change. He describes climate change as real, urgent, and a universal issue (name in Latin).
Answer: What is Laudato Si’? 200 points.
The inhumane working conditions and abuse that poor Brazilians face working on soy plantations is a direct violation of this Catholic Social Teaching Theme.
Answer: What is the Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers? 300 points.
"The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God's creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected." -USCCB Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
The Amazon has been illegally invaded by these groups who were emboldened by former Brazilian President Bolsonaro (many possible answers).
Answer: What are a) armed military groups, b) criminal groups, c) logging companies, d) miners, or e) poachers? 300 points.
DAILY DOUBLE
This is one of the most deforested Indigenous lands, located in Pará State.
The Amazon is home to this amount of the world's known biodiversity (animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, etc; answer in percent).
Answer: What is 10%? 300 points.
Companies like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Walmart unethically source these types of products known to come from the destruction of protected Amazon land (2 possible answers).
Answer: What are beef and soy products? 400 points.
In April 2021, European Catholic investors and the U.S sent a letter to former President Jair Bolsonaro, signed by this many countries, urging him to protect the Amazon Rainforest.
Answer: What are 17 countries? 400 points.
Indigenous people revere the forest that, until the present, has protected them from outsiders and given them everything they need. This term is defined by the use of the land without doing harm to the plants and animals that also call the rainforest their home.
Answer: What is sustainable existence? 400 points.
This term refers to when small changes in the ecosystem, such as deforestation, cross the threshold and become significant enough to cause critical change, irreversible damage, and/or devastating effects on the environment.
Answer: What is the tipping point? 400 points.
This popular and easy solution to environmental policy violations includes boycotting products known to be unethically sourced and choosing to purchase from forest-friendly companies.
Answer: What is sustainable shopping? 500 points.
Current Brazilian President Lula established this federal organization in January 2023 and appointed Indigenous leader and activist, Sonia Guajajara to lead it.
Answer: What is the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples? 500 points.
She is Brazil’s first female indigenous lawyer, a member of Congress, and the main representative of indigenous people in the Amazon. She also established the Mixed Parliamentary Front in Defense of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2019.
Answer: Rep. Joênia Wapichana? 500 points.
DAILY DOUBLE
This organization, acronymed UNFAO, estimates that 18 million acres of forest are lost each year.