A celebratory kind of revolution: Peruvian villagers hold a bird festival (commentary)

[Judi Lynn]

Commentary by Brian Landever and Fufkin Vollmayer on 9 December 2019

. . .

They left at five o’clock in the morning and traveled all day, sitting in their dugout canoes called peke-peke under the punishing tropical heat — all to attend a meeting.

One thousand Peruvians came from far and wide for a celebration of rainforest birds. They braved the heat for hours on end, but they made it. The meeting was the first bird festival in Loreto, Peru, held from September 9 to September 13, 2019.

For mothers and fathers to pack up and bring their children many kilometers away to another village to talk about, well, birds, was incredible. Amazing. And totally unprecedented. It was chevere, in local slang, meaning “really good.”



Bird-watching students in Peru. Photo courtesy of CONAPAC.

This bird festival was the culmination of three years of activities focused on Amazonian bird studies, resulting in such concern for birds and their habitat that a kind of revolution is building among the thousands of students involved. It’s a celebratory kind of revolution, raising spirits and enhancing cultural arts. Children are showing excitement for the natural world, and their parents are following suit.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/a-celebratory-kind-of-revolution-peruvian-villagers-hold-a-bird-festival-commentary/

Also posted in Environment and energy:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1127134329

[calimary]

1. Thank God!

The demographic that’s going to take over the world is into stuff like this! Our Earth just might have a chance.