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In Speech At Collège de France, Ailton Krenak Denounces Impacts Of COP30 On The Amazon, Criticizes Oil Exploration And Proposes Rethinking Urban Lifestyle With The Concepts Of “Florestania” And “Floricity”
The Indigenous writer and philosopher Ailton Krenak was received on Tuesday (29) by Collège de France, one of the most prestigious academic institutions in France. The only Indigenous member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Krenak spoke to an audience of academics and researchers.
In his speech, he addressed the climate crisis, the destruction of natural resources, and directly criticized the upcoming UN Climate Conference, scheduled to take place in the Amazon in November.
Criticisms Of COP30
Krenak expressed concern about the environmental and social impact that the Climate Conference may bring. For him, the event requires significant investments and creates disruptions for the local population.
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“I think COP30 is going to be a burden. It will require a lot of investment, it will spend a lot to promote a conference that could happen online. It didn’t need to be in the Amazon,” he stated.
He also warned about the absence of the United States in the negotiations and declared that the event will be dominated by corporate interests. “Corporations and businesspeople will gain a lot from COP30, and local populations will lose everything,” he commented.
Oil Exploration At The Mouth Of The Amazon
After the event, while chatting with journalists, the philosopher was more direct in commenting on Brazilian government plans to explore oil at the mouth of the Amazon River. “It’s a kind of divorce from reality for the Brazilian government, or any other regional government, to insist on fossil fuel exploration, oil,” he declared.
He also recalled the last climate conference in Azerbaijan, where the president of the host country referred to gas and oil as “God’s gifts.” Krenak harshly criticized this view: “As long as we live with this simplistic and opportunistic idea of natural resources that God has given, we will go down the drain.”
The Loss Of The Experience Of Being Alive
During his lecture, Krenak warned about the effects of human actions on the planet. He mentioned the intensive use of fossil fuels and stated that humanity is experiencing the immense loss of the quality of the experience of being alive. According to him, the problem is not only climate but also the immobility in the face of evidence.
For the writer, environmental agreements are “melting,” and there is a collective inability to imagine new paths. “We are provoking the collapse of the world we inhabit, its impoverishment, and we are not being able to contemplate others,” he said.
‘Eating The Earth’
Inspired by the thoughts of Yanomami leader Davi Kopenawa, Krenak said that humans have started to “eat the Earth.” He mentioned the disappearing rivers and forests and questioned: “How much more can we still eat from the Earth?”
He advocated for the urgency of looking at the scale of environmental destruction. For him, consumption habits and the occupation of spaces considered “empty” are accelerating the collapse.
Florestania And Floricity
Concluding his speech, Krenak presented the concepts of “florestania” and “floricity,” ideas that unite forest and citizenship, forest and city. In the heart of Paris, he questioned how to rethink cities so that rivers and forests coexist with urban life.
With information from Terra.
