He presents each of the trees with the familiarity of someone who has seen them grow since they were half-finger-long cuttings. “The pink cachimbo will be here in a thousand years. The brazilwood gave this country its name, it gives a red dye and is almost extinct; that ambaibo has a hollow trunk, it is home to ants that eat mites; the bacuparí gives a superfruit better than any berry; there the mulatto palos, grandfather, son, grandson and great-grandson, have green trunks with brown skin and grow up to 40 meters…”. The Brazilian Helio da Silva (73 years old, Promissão) proudly walks through the work of his life, the Tiquatira linear park, in São Paulo, a three-kilometer-long strip of wooded land between two wide avenues with infernal traffic. This retired executive has planted 41,000 trees in two decades (about 15,000 in the Retiro in Madrid). On one of those hot, dry afternoons after a hundred days without rain in this concrete metropolis, sitting down to chat in the shade is a relief. You can even hear the birds chirping.
Ask. Your business card says: tree planter. How did you get into this?
Answer. It was an abandoned, dangerous area. A landfill, a mini-crashland. [de adictos al crack]. One day I was with my wife and I said to her: ‘In ten years I’m going to change this.’ She replied: ‘You’re going to be assaulted and robbed.’ It was November 23, 2003. I was in the right place at the right time. I got the message from the forces of nature.
P. Did you already have a green thumb?
R. No way. I was a businessman in the trade, I travelled a lot. But I live right next door. 200 years ago it was pure vegetation, Atlantic forest, which man destroyed. I bought the first 200 cuttings and planted them. They pulled them up. My family and friends said: ‘See? We warned you.’ I went back and planted 400. They pulled them up again. But I’m stubborn, so I upped the stakes, 5,000 in four years. When they saw I was serious, they gave up. I kept going and I don’t plan on stopping.
P. São Paulo’s first linear municipal park. A lung between avenues.
R. It is a pleasure to see those ladies out walking, those on bikes, the kids on the swings. At weekends it is packed. You turn on the TV and they say that the GDP has to grow and grow… does progress mean destroying the planet?
P. How do you define progress?
R. For me, it is about peaceful coexistence with nature, which is taking its toll on us with fires, climate change, and our perverse action of uncontrolled growth.
P. Have you always been an environmentalist?
R. No. I have always loved nature, I have never destroyed it, but I never imagined planting so many trees. I have returned the Atlantic forest to an area that was its own. Planting thousands of trees in the countryside is easy, here, in the middle of the city, between two avenues, it is something else.
P. What drives you?
R. How generous trees are. They regulate the climate. Here we have between three and five degrees less than on the avenue. They retain the rain, they bear fruit that attracts birds… The forces of nature give a mission to whoever can accomplish it. But you have to be crazy. Only crazy people transform the world, the rest are just herdsmen.
P. What is your relationship with trees?
R. Now, retired, I come here every day. I greet them, ‘good morning, good afternoon, do you need anything?’ And some of them answer: ‘Yes, fertilizer.’ They need haircuts, nails, vitamins, vaccines… like us. Otherwise, they die.
P. He keeps a diary, what does he write down?
R. Tonight I will write down that I have been with you and that I told some birds that the tree they like so much is a palo de mulato. I go to bed planning tomorrow’s task.
P. Is planning so necessary?
R. Of course, to decide which species to plant and where you have to think 20 years ahead. How much each tree will grow, the size of the crown, the sun it needs, the soil… If it can grow among the neighbour’s leaves… I spend about 40,000 reais a year on cuttings. It’s the best investment I’ve ever made in my life. I keep them at home waiting for it to start raining. Last week we saw a toucan here.
P. The park is home to 162 species of trees and 40 species of birds. Where did you learn?
R. Leo, I ask. And I grew up on a coffee farm. We had to come to São Paulo in search of a better life. And I learned. The agronomists know a lot about soy and such, but if you ask them about these trees, they get three out of ten right. Children should learn in school how important, how generous trees are. That is sustainability.
P. Rio de Janeiro has a lush forest in Tijuca thanks to the ambitious reforestation undertaken in 1861 by Emperor Pedro II to reclaim land degraded by coffee. Is this a model for Brazil and the world?
R. Yes, because trees have no party or nationality. The European Union subsidises tree planting in Africa to stop the sand. But have you been to the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio? There is not a single tree! What future is that?
P. Why is there such a lack of environmental awareness in the Amazon?
R. The indigenous people have a lot of it, that’s why they fight. The problem is the white man. Progress. Now the Amazon itself is burning. The solution is to monitor it more closely, by satellite, and not let anything get out of there.
P. He says that those who live near a wooded area gain five years of life, and the health authorities are going to put up a statue of them.
R. Depression and sadness cause illness. We need more walks. I go to the gym one day, and not one day. And then I come here. My medication is to gain muscle mass. Thank God I have health and vitality. When I leave, my soul will stay here.
#Progress #peaceful #coexistence #nature