Sharing Dr. Lovejoy’s Return to the Amazon
In December of 2022, the SustainaFest team packed its bags for a special trip to Brazil to help “return” Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, one of the world’s greatest conservation scientists, to the Amazon. We had been working with Dr. Lovejoy for several years as we sought to bring the story of his ground-breaking science and message of hope to the masses. Our efforts were disrupted by the COVID pandemic and, tragically, Dr. Lovejoy passed away on Christmas Day, 2021.
Lovejoy’s list of accomplishments is staggering. He coined the term “biological diversity” and conceived the “debt for nature swap” concept that has subsequently generated more than $1 billion for the conservation and preservation of critical ecosystems and threatened and endangered species worldwide. He was also a longtime National Geographic Explorer at Large, a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation, a professor and founding Scientific Director at the Institute for a Sustainable Earth at George Mason University, the chief biodiversity advisor to the World Bank, and the first scientist ever hired by the World Wildlife Fund. The list goes on: founding adviser to the long-running PBS television series Nature; adviser to the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., and Bill Clinton; and, more recently, an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Not surprisingly, Lovejoy — known globally as “the godfather of biodiversity” — was always in demand for his unparalleled ability to inform, connect, and inspire. When not in the Amazon, he could be found globetrotting to advise heads of state or hosting one of his now-famous dinner parties to bring together CEOs, Hollywood stars, environmental leaders, and others who shared his passion for protecting our planet. For these and other efforts, he received numerous honorary degrees and awards that included the exclusive Blue Planet Prize and the Hubbard Award, National Geographic’s highest honor.
A Sacred Journey to “the Lungs of the Planet”
Incredibly, Lovejoy’s life story has never been substantially captured on film. That’s where we come in. Our team had been working with him to develop and pitch two television series concepts to National Geographic and Discovery Channel that would weave together his fascinating life with the urgent messages emerging from his work. The first, called “Fragmented,” was inspired by Lovejoy’s groundbreaking science on forest fragmentation and its impact on biodiversity and species extinction. The second, “The Numbers,” would unpack the realities behind statistics and tipping point indicators highlighting the consequences of our wasteful, carbon-intensive behaviors. The pandemic hit, our series were put on the back burner, and then came the troubling news that Lovejoy had fallen ill. We quickly dispatched our team to his Virginia home and captured his last interview on film. On Christmas Day 2021, the world lost one of its greatest scientists when the seemingly ageless and unstoppable Dr. Lovejoy passed at the age of 80.
Twelve months later, we’d find ourselves heading to the “lungs of the planet” on a sacred journey to return Lovejoy to his beloved Amazon. A circuitous two days of travel brought us to Manaus, Brazil, where we joined a collection of his family and closest friends. What followed would be a life-changing experience that altered world views and drove home one of Lovejoy’s most important insights: A passion for protecting the planet can only be fostered through providing education and building emotional connections.
Departing our hotel, we loaded into four-wheel drive vehicles to begin the hours-long trek into the deep recesses of the rainforest. Our first stop was at a favorite research tower that soars above the tree canopy. Family, friends, and our film crew climbed to the top of the 130-foot tower to gaze over the seemingly unending expanse of the Amazon. It was there, in a slight breeze and calming silence, that the first of Lovejoy’s ashes were scattered among the leaves of the incredible diversity of tree species below.
More hours of travel on rutted roads would bring us to the world-famous Camp 41, a 620-square-mile area that is home to the longest continuously running scientific research station in the Amazon. Lovejoy and his colleagues built this base to accommodate what would become a steady parade of research ecologists who have populated its tin-roofed structures over the last 40-plus years. Mixed in among these scientists were the hundreds of visitors — students, dignitaries, celebrities, and others — that Lovejoy guided to the Amazon to entice with the wonders of the rainforest and recruit into the urgent efforts to slow climate change. Our group would spend four days at the camp absorbing the incredible biological diversity that Lovejoy understood to be a cornerstone of life on Earth. From the largest trees to the smallest carpenter ants, from massive vultures to tiny camouflaged toads, from colorful parrots to hopping spiders, Lovejoy’s Amazon slowly shared its secrets with us and drew us in.
The Accelerating Dangers of Deforestation
Our first night was eventful. A massive tree crashed down just a few feet from our sleeping hammocks, followed in rapid succession by several other trees and the otherworldly screech of howler monkeys sounding the alarm. Morning revealed the results — sunshine now penetrated what was a very dark rainforest floor the day before. Our hosts explained that this was nature’s way of sacrificing itself so other fledgling plants and trees could access the precious sunshine needed for growth.
Unfortunately, these self-preservation tactics, while incredibly important in a functioning ecosystem, are wholly incapable of staving off the current pace of deforestation. Rainforests are diminishing at a dizzying rate and now cover less than 3% of the planet. With their destruction, we lose so much more than just trees. These forests are home to more than 50% of the world’s terrestrial species with many now racing toward extinction. They play a vital role in maintaining the world’s limited freshwater supply by adding water to the atmosphere through transpiration. Eliminate forests and drought follows close behind. Compounds from their plants are used in some of the world’s most important, life-saving medicines for treating malaria, heart disease, bronchitis, hypertension, diabetes, and many other health problems.
Throw in the fact that more than one out of every four people worldwide depend upon the forest for their livelihood and one begins to fully appreciate why Lovejoy devoted his life to sounding his alarm to protect the Amazon.
The New Year’s Day sunrise found us gathered by one of Lovejoy’s favorite streams. His family and friends sprinkled more ashes into nut shells gathered from the forest floor. Setting the shells adrift, the water carried his body and spirit downstream toward the mouth of the Amazon River where he had begun his scientific career more than 50 years earlier.
We too would transition to the Amazon River, moving onto a live-aboard boat for the next phase of our journey. Here, we encountered the Encontro das Águas (“meeting of the waters”) where the Rio Negro’s dark waters meet the “white” waters of the Amazon and engage in a mesmerizing dance of partial mixing across the 1,500-kilometer journey to the Atlantic Ocean. Lovejoy would enchant his visitors with the science behind how differences in water temperature, flow speeds, and sediment levels created such a beautiful phenomenon. More ashes were spread, and Lovejoy forever became a part of that wonderful dance.
Over the next few days, we rose and set with the sun, paddling tributaries and following exotic wildlife. Spider monkeys, sloths, and dozens of bird species were pointed out by Rob Bierregaard and Mario Cohn-Haft, accomplished scientists and close friends of Lovejoy. We fished for piranha, ate catfish purchased from local fishers, and humbly accepted an Indigenous woman’s kind offer of shelter during a torrential rainstorm. Our final stop brought us to Escola Estadual Thomas Eugene Lovejoy, a community school named in Lovejoy’s honor on the banks of the Rio Negro, where small boats bring children to classrooms each day. Amid tears and smiles, the last of Lovejoy’s ashes were spread in the school garden, ensuring that he would continue to nurture and satiate students’ thirst for knowledge.
Beyond being a groundbreaking and visionary scientist, Lovejoy was many things: a loving father to Kata, Betsy, and Annie, his three beautiful daughters; a cherished “Vovo” to six grandchildren; a wry, witty comedian; and a powerful orator. When speaking about conservation and the looming threat of climate change, his messages always combined scientific realities with reasons for hope. Lovejoy warned that the Amazon will hit a tipping point when deforestation reaches 20%–25% of forest cover. Cross that tipping point and the ecosystem begins to irreversibly collapse. Estimates vary but most scientists agree that 15% or more of the forest has been lost to date —an area one-tenth the size of the United States — and that 40 football fields worth of forest continue to be lost each minute of every passing day. Destroy the Amazon and the rest of the planet will follow. Yet, there is still time to save, if not the entire Amazon, then most of it; if not every species, then the great majority.
As Lovejoy would say, “Without hope, there is no point. Optimism is our only option.”
