Antonio Vincente

This story is about a Brazilian man named Antonio Vicente who bought a patch of land (31 hectares) in the São Paulo state in Brazil in the early 1970s. At the time, the land that he purchased was used for cattle grazing. In the 1970s, the Brazilian military, who was in power at the time, was offering wealthy landowners subsidized credits to expand their agriculture practices by investing into modern farming technology and tools so that the agriculture sector of the country could grow and expand.

For Antonio, he was very worried about these agriculture practices, as he believed that the land would eventually become barren and the water sources would dry up. This is because when Antonio was a child, he saw his father working on a farm and his father was cutting down trees to burn for charcoal production, and to clear land to graze cattle. As a result, the land dried up and never returned to its normal state. Antonio did not want his own land to turn out the same way, and therefore committed to reforesting his land.

At the time, Antonio had neighbours who were farmers who told him that planting trees would be a waste of time and that it was a stupid idea because it would not provide him income since the trees would take up a lot of space and there wouldn’t be enough room to plant crops or raise animals. Nevertheless, Antonio wasn’t swayed by this, and he was committed to restoring his land and turning it back into a forest. He spent the next 40 years replanting 50,000 trees, and now his patch of land has grown into a lustrous green forest with 8 beautiful waterfalls.

This resonated with me because he was going against the practices that were occurring at the time, rather than cutting down trees and turning it into agriculture and making a profit, he truly cared about the environment and wanted to turn it into a place that he wanted to live. The quote that truly inspired me was when he said, “I didn’t do it for money, I did it because when I die, what’s here will remain for everyone.” He truly thought about the future and the next generation of people who will inhabit his land.

Furthermore, Brazil has one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, and to go against the practices of the agriculture industry is very honourable. Especially in this day and age, conserving the environment is important because we are losing it every day and his willingness to preserve it over the 40 years takes a lot of commitment and sheer power which is something that you don’t see in many people since some people might give up early on.

It also taught me that if you want to realize your vision, then it will take time, like in this case, but in the end, you can achieve it if you put in the work.

References 

Cowie, S. (2017, March 21). The man who planted a tree and grew a whole family of forests. The Guardian. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/mar/21/the-man-who-planted-a-tree-and-grew-a-whole-family-of-forests