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jonathanwatts

@jonathanwatts

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Amazon rainforest-based journalist. Founder @Sumaumajornal & @Amazon_RJF . Global environment writer @Guardian . Author of The Many Lives of James Lovelock.

Altamira, Brasil
Joined May 2008
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
1 year
Life Central.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
“Let’s fight for zero deforestation,” Lula says in first speech as president-elect. “Brazil is ready to resume its leading role in the fight against the climate crisis, protecting all our biomes, especially the Amazon Forest.”
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
Dom Phillips, a superb journalist, regular contributor to @guardian , and great friend, is missing in Javari Valley of Amazon after death threats to his indigenista companion, Bruno Pereira, who is also missing. Calling on Brazilian authorities to urgently launch search operation.
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@jonathanwatts
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1 year
Lula in inauguration speech: “Brazil does not need to deforest to expand the agricultural frontier, but to replant 30 million (square kilometres of) cleared areas. There is no need to invade our biomes.”
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
@tomphillipsin Insensitive, shallow, boorish Bolsonaro is trying to use the Queen’s funeral as an election campaign stop. What a shameful representative of Brazil.
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
The word is spreading. Where are Dom & Bruno?
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jonathanwatts
2 years
Lula’s victory speech is superb. I can’t remember any leader - in Brazil or any other country - devoting so much time and energy to nature and the climate at such a moment.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
4 years
Exclusive: Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for first time on record. Brazilian scientists, who registered the new high of 20.75C on Seymour Island, describe warming as "incredible and abnormal". Story by me.
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@jonathanwatts
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3 years
International criminal court urged to investigate Jair Bolsonaro for crimes against humanity over Amazon rainforest destruction and abuse of indigenous rights.
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@jonathanwatts
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4 years
No coincidence that the world’s three worst daily death rates are in USA, Brazil and UK, where leaders dithered or denied the science the most.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Reports from the Javari Valley that there has been ZERO support from the Brazilian military and police in the search today for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. It seems the government has demobilised the resources they previously publicly promised.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Dom Phillips’ sister Sian and brother-in-law ⁦ @paulsherwood6 ⁩ join a vigil for the missing journalist and indigenista Bruno Pereira outside the Brazilian Embassy in London.
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
An obituary for my friend Dom Phillips. His funeral will take place on Sunday in Rio do Janeiro.
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
Brazil, Indonesia and DRC in talks to form ‘Opec of rainforests.’ Smart move to share conservation knowledge and lobby for richer countries to pay for what they have taken for granted for too long.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Celebrations in order for anyone who cares about the Amazon rainforest. But as much from relief as from joy. Lula’s narrow win avoids the certain catastrophe that would be four more years of Bolsonaro. But…
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
5 years
Is he talking to the British sovereign or the ghost of Freddy Mercury?
@jairbolsonaro
Jair M. Bolsonaro
5 years
Thank you for the words, Queen. God bless Brazil and the United Kingdom / Obrigado pelas palavras, Rainha. Deus abençoe o Brasil e o Reino Unido.
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
The family of James Lovelock have asked me to pass on the following statement.
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@jonathanwatts
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3 years
Just released: Amazon deforestation in 12 months until 31 July was 13,235 square kilometres, up 22% on previous year, according to Brazil's National Space Research Institute. Horrifying. No wonder Bolsonaro's government delayed release until after Cop26
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3 years
Why aren’t US journalists using the word “coup”? For any other nation, that’s what it would be called when a defeated president stirs up a mob to disrupt the transfer of power.
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@jonathanwatts
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7 years
Love this illustration of how forests prevents floods.
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
“Brazil & the planet need a living Amazon. A standing tree is worth more than tons of wood illegally harvested by those who think only of easy profit… A river of clear water is worth more than gold extracted at the expense of mercury that kills fauna and risks human life.”
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
4 years
The four worst and seven of the best leaders in terms of killing/saving people during #COVID pandemic. If only there were a clear pattern. H/t @Lorelei_CA @MaddowBlog
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
Some personal and professional news: Next month, I will join some of the best journalists in Latin America to launch an Amazon newsletter called Sumaúma, which puts the rainforest at the centre of the world, rather than the capitals of money & power. Viva ⁦ @sumaumajornal ⁩!
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
6 years
Brazil's next foreign minister Eduardo Araujo believes climate change "dogma" is Marxist plot, and bemoans ‘criminalisation’ of red meat, oil, Disney & heterosexual sex. Might be funny, it he wasn't representing such an important nation. By me.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
“We are committed to indigenous peoples, other forest peoples and biodiversity. We want environmental pacification. We are not interested in a war for the environment, but we are ready to defend it from any threat.”
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2 years
“We will resume monitoring and surveillance of the Amazon, and combat any and all illegal activity – whether mining, mining, logging or improper agricultural occupation.”
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
6 years
Brazil’s National Museum kept one of the best collections of indigenous literature and artefacts in the world. “This is the greatest loss of indigenous writing in Latin America”, said Urutau Guajajara as he looked on at the fire. “Our memory has been erased”.
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
Murdered British journalist Dom Phillips laid to rest in Brazil. True to form, Dom had prepared a playlist for his funeral, including Chic’s Good Times. “A connoisseur to the last, he had insisted on the 12” mix.” @tomphillipsin and @adowniebrazil
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@jonathanwatts
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2 years
“At the same time, we will promote the sustainable development of communities living in the Amazon region. Let's prove once again that it is possible to generate wealth without destroying the environment.”
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2 years
“We are open to international cooperation to preserve the Amazon, whether in the form of investment or scientific research. But always under the leadership of Brazil, without ever renouncing our sovereignty.”
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
4 years
I just interviewed Jane Goodall. She said I reminded her of her favourite chimpanzee. I have never felt so flattered.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
5 years
The Bolsonaro Effect: Amazon deforestation now more than 4 football pitches a minute and rising fast.
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@jonathanwatts
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4 years
“You white people have made the law but you are not respecting it.” Indigenous groups in Brazil appeal for help against wave of illegal miners invading their land.
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1 year
“We will encourage prosperity in the land, but we cannot make it a lawless land, we will not tolerate deforestation and environmental degradation.”
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
4 years
Worst in the world. Here’s why Bolsonaro wants to hide Covid data. Brazil now has highest number of new deaths based on seven-day rolling average. Data by ⁦ @FT ⁩ ⁦ @jburnmurdoch
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1 year
Among others, Lula was accompanied by Raoni Metuktire in the ceremonial walk to power up the ramp of Planalto. A symbolic gesture that after 500 years, indigenous people finally have some say in running Brazil.
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jonathanwatts
5 years
“They don’t speak our language. And somehow they’ve ended up with 14% of our land”. Bolsonaro’s jaw-dropping take on Brazil’s indigenous population, who have lost 86% of their land to a “somehow” of murder, theft and disease.
@tomphillipsin
Tom Phillips
5 years
Brazil's president suggests international conspiracy to hold back Brazil. "Indians don't do lobbying. They don't speak our language. And somehow they've ended up with 14% of our land," Bolsonaro claims.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Brazil needs and should receive international support to do the right thing in the Amazon. The coming COP climate conference will be a good place to start. The rainforests and their people need to be far more central in global debates.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
3 years
Criminal and heartbreaking. Impact of wildcat mining evident in before and after pics of once stunning waterfall in indigenous lands in Roraima, Brazil. Linked to ally of Bolsonaro. This is happening across Amazon.
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1 year
“This is one of the reasons for the creation of Indigenous Peoples ministries. Each demarcated land is a new area of ​​environmental protection. We owe respect to native peoples. We will repeal all injustices against indigenous peoples.”
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jonathanwatts
1 year
Above are quotes from Lula speech to Congress. Below from public speech: "Indigenous peoples...are not obstacles to development – they are guardians of our rivers and forests, and a fundamental part of our greatness as a nation."
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
4 years
Silence from Brazil’s president is deafening. After seeing his idol Trump’s re-election hopes buried in the car park of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, perhaps @jairbolsonaro is busy making a preemptive booking for October-November 2022 at Leroy Merlin.
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5 years
@tomphillipsin Every correspondent I know has been to the Amazon more often than Brazil’s environment minister.
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jonathanwatts
4 years
Love this illustration of how forests prevent floods.
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2 years
Joy in this otherwise Bolsonarista corner of the Amazon as Lula’s victory is confirmed.
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2 years
The fire season has started in our part of the Amazon. Horrifying to see.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
5 months
What kind of country locks up a climate protester for six months for slow walking? UK becoming toxic.
@JolyonMaugham
Jo Maugham
5 months
Extraordinary press release from @JustStop_Oil . For peacefully marching for 30 minutes on a road in North London to protest against the destruction of the planet - and having pleaded guilty - Stephen Gingell, a father of three, has been sentenced to six months in prison.
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4 years
Exclusive. Scientists find Arctic methane hydrates being released from continental slopes of Laptev Sea. Raises concern that climate "sleeping giant" may have awoken. Story by me.
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jonathanwatts
2 years
There is hope too. Lula made some important promises: to make the environment a super-issue that cuts across ministries, a new indigenous ministry and an end to illegal mining.
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jonathanwatts
6 years
Brazil's judges (nudged by military) condemn Lula but he remains country's most popular politician. If his jailing is to be more than a cynical electoral ploy, Supreme Court should put Temer, Aécio and Jucá on trial. Not holding my breath.
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2 years
“They don’t think it matters because it is Brazil. Facebook and Google’s shareholders are in the US, not here.” Social media giants spreading fake news ahead of run-off presidential vote, investigation reveals. Story by ⁦ @adowniebrazil
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6 years
“I hope we are wrong”. Climate scientists fear cascade of feedback loops are pushing Earth onto “hothouse” trajectory.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Lula faces huge challenges: a divided country, a hostile Congress and the huge task of rebuilding the organs of environmental protection that were gutted by Bolsonaro and Salles.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
3 years
1st response: “whaaaat?!” 2nd response: “what the hell are Brazilian universities teaching?!” 3rd and final response: “duh, this is all about racism, inequality and privilege.”
@OliverStuenkel
Oliver Stuenkel 🇧🇷
3 years
This amazing graph by my colleague @JairoNicolau1 shows that Bolsonaro, the "man of the people" who refuses to get vaccinated and believes climate change is a hoax, is most popular among university graduates -- and least popular among those who haven't finished high school.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
4 years
Bolsonaro didn’t like satellite data for Amazon deforestation so he fired the head of space agency. Now he is shamed by Covid death rate so he gets rid of two health ministers and hides the numbers. Dictators bring darkness.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
3 years
Aruká Juma, the last man of the Juma people has died of Covid., according to indigenous rights group COIAB. His community reportedly numbered 15,000 at the start of 20th century before massacres, disease, land theft and deliberate neglect took their toll.
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2 years
“The Guardian is very concerned and is urgently seeking information about Mr Phillips’ whereabouts and condition. We are in contact with the British embassy in Brazil and local and national authorities to try to establish the facts as soon as possible.”
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jonathanwatts
2 years
‘Bolsonaro seems happy for a chunk of Brazil to have fallen into the hands of criminal organizations. For him, they’re not the problem. The problem is journalists & indigenous defenders who insist on investigating crimes.’ —Jan Rocha on withering form.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Brazilian Navy and Federal Police promise boat searches for Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips but where are the overflights? The military likes to talk about "national sovereignty" in the Amazon. But not even a helicopter has appeared in the emergency action.
@rubensvalente
Rubens Valente
2 years
a Marinha e a PF prometem buscas de barco a Bruno Pereira @tuyu_bruno e Dom Phillips @domphillips . Ou seja, não haverá sobrevôos. Os militares gostam de discursar sobre "soberania nacional" na Amazônia. Mas não aparece um simples helicóptero para uma ação de emergência.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Brazilian federal police have not yet started a search for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, who have been missing 30 hours in a dangerous area of the Amazon after death threats.
@brumelianebrum
Eliane Brum
2 years
A Polícia Federal ainda NÃO começou as buscas para localizar @domphillips e Bruno Pereira, desaparecidos há mais de 30 horas no Vale do Javari. Quem está fazendo buscas desde ontem são os indígenas da região, pela Unijava. Como é possível??? Tempo é crucial na Amazônia!
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1 year
Lula: "It is time to bring investments and reindustrialize Brazil. Combat climate change again and put an end once and for all to the devastation of our biomes, especially the Amazon."
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2 years
Dom’s family in UK implore Brazil to dispatch national guard and federal police to join search in Javari Valley of the Amazon.
@paulsherwood6
Paul Sherwood onMastodon as @[email protected]
2 years
1/2 My partner Sian's brother, Dom Phillips, has dissapeared on a trip in the Amazon. We implore the Brazilian authorities to send the national guard, federal police and all the powers at their disposal to find our cherished Dom.
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jonathanwatts
2 years
Lula’s victory shows us the key to solving the climate and nature crises is politics. Before individual responsibility, before new technology, before carbon markets, the solution starts with politics. Politics. Politics. Politics. Then the others can follow.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
3 years
Seven things I love about #COP26 but haven’t had a chance to report on: 1.A much greater focus on nature than at previous climate summits 2.Overdue recognition of crucial role of indigenous communities 3.Triumph of science. No more time wasting on denialist bollox …
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
3 years
Horrifying. Brazilian Amazon released more carbon than it absorbed over past 10 years
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jonathanwatts
5 years
This is a whole new level of magical.
@sofiabiologista
Sofía Villalpando
5 years
Goals: Playing fetch with a beluga whale
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3 years
Bolsonaro is turning Brazil into a toxic brand. Supermarkets will seek soy alternatives for animal feed if Amazon protections weakened Story by me.
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jonathanwatts
6 years
How a sadistic, homophobic, misogynist, racist, ‘thing’ could be Brazil’s next president. By ⁦ @brumelianebrum
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
5 years
Immediately after taking power in Brazil yesterday, Bolsonaro made the agriculture ministry (now run by farmers) responsible for indigenous and quilombola land (mostly in Amazon). The vampires are now managing the blood bank. Even the military dictatorship didn’t go that far.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
5 years
This massive spike in deforestation (double anything seen over previous 48months) is why Bolsonaro sacked head of space agency. Satellite info wasn’t leaked. Just routinely updated online as under previous presidents. Bolsonaro has fired a top scientist for doing his job.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Some personal news. I am taking a year off to write a book in the Amazon. The rainforest will be an inspiration rather than a subject, but there will be a strong natural science theme.
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jonathanwatts
5 years
Deforestation of Brazilian Amazon surges in May, fuelling fears that land grabbers are being tacitly encouraged by Bolsonaro government. By me.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
5 years
The Edinburgh climate march is loooooooooong! I didn’t get anywhere near the end. #schoolstrike4climate
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Dom Phillips' sister Sian has made a moving video appeal to the Brazilian authorities to find her brother.
@paulsherwood6
Paul Sherwood onMastodon as @[email protected]
2 years
Sian Phillips appeals for urgency from Brazilian authorities in the search for brother Dom Phillips, journalist missing in the Amazon since Sunday, please keep up the pressure! @FCDOGovUK @trussliz @BrazilEmbassyUK @mhopkinsfco @marcolonghi4dn @fyldeca @jamescleverly
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jonathanwatts
4 years
The sound of icebergs melting. This Antarctic story took a helluva long time, mostly because I struggled to do justice to the most amazing, inspiring place I have seen in my life...
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jonathanwatts
2 years
Joining a show of journalistic solidarity for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira at “Reporting the Climate Crisis” conference organised by the ⁦ @pulitzercenter
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jonathanwatts
2 years
The legend that is @caetanoveloso opens show in Rio with a call for intensified searches for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira and an investigation into their disappearance.
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jonathanwatts
2 years
Ah Brazil! Oh Amazon! Lula wins first round of presidential election but falls short of outright victory. Bolsonaro’s stronger-than-forecast showing and his allies’ domination of Senate races make second round tough to call. The agony continues.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
5 years
Is there a Congress in the world that can match Brazil’s for malice, pettiness and intolerance?.
@domphillips
Dom Phillips
5 years
On anniversary of Marielle Franco's murder, as leftist politicians paid homage to her in Congress's big Green Room, rightwing deputies appeared with sounds of barking dogs and banners protesting maltreatment of animals. Pathetic.
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
4 years
Brazilian beef = Amazon deforestation.
@tesconews
Tesco News
4 years
Setting fires in the Amazon to clear land for crops destroys Brazilian rainforest. It must stop. That’s why we support Greenpeace’s aim to prevent further deforestation. And why Tesco does not buy meat from Brazil, and all our fresh beef comes from the UK and Ireland.
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3 years
“There is no hope if Bolsonaro is re-elected president. It is either the Amazon or Bolsonaro. There is no space for both.” My report on the latest political assault on the rainforest in Brazil. With comments by @MarcioAstrini and @Erika_Berenguer
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jonathanwatts
5 years
One of Brazil's few openly gay congressman, Jean Wyllys says he will leave Brazil because of death threats. Understandable but sad for Brazil. Wyllys was one of the most effective members of the legislature and stood up more strongly than anyone against Jair Bolsonaro.
@bruceecurb
Bruce Douglas
5 years
Sick of constant death threats and living under armed guard, Jean Wyllys, until recently Brazil's only openly gay congressman, tells @folha he's decided to leave Brazil. Wyllys' colleague in the leftwing PSOL party, Marielle Franco, was murdered last year
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jonathanwatts
4 years
Amazonian chief Raoni Metuktire: 'Bolsonaro has been the worst for us' Interview with him and Davi Kopenawa Yanomami by me
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jonathanwatts
2 years
Help please Twitter! Can forest fire induce lightning? I took dozens of pics tonight that suggest so. On the right is a reddish stationary fire. On the left are whitish flashes of lightning, which are all the same distance and altitude with no audible thunder. They seem tied.
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jonathanwatts
3 years
“About a third of the global total of fatalities were recorded in Brazil on Tuesday.” Bolsonaro leads the world’s worst-governed country deeper into death. Story by ⁦ @tomphillipsin
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
“I’m a freelancer with nothing but a book in my life and not even enough to live on next year while I write it,” he said in September. “Not so much all the eggs in the same basket as the entire hen house.” Fine tribute to Dom by ⁦ @DLBiller ⁩ of AP
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jonathanwatts
1 year
Worth remembering Bolsonaro attacked Raoni in a 2020 United Nations speech, when he accused the indigenous leader of being used by foreign governments and NGOs, and insisted “the monopoly of the Raoni era is over.” Great analysis here by @danichiaretti
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@jonathanwatts
jonathanwatts
2 years
Incredibly proud of my wife @brumelianebrum who has won Brazil’s top journalism award (Vladimir Hertzog), is shortlisted for top literary award (Jabuti) and has now penned this life-affirming column on Lula’s victory for our joint creation @sumaumajornal .
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jonathanwatts
6 months
“We” are not equally to blame for the climate emergency. Inequality is a cause of the crisis. And the climate is, in turn, worsening inequality. My introduction to new @guardianeco series.
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jonathanwatts
3 years
“The satellites don’t lie.” Amazon activists warn COP26 delegates not to trust Bolsonaro Brazil’s ‘greenwashing’ promises. story by me.
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