58
Driven by the increasing focus on the deforestation in
the Legal Amazon*, volunteers from AAK Brazil wanted
to show their concern and help raise awareness in local
schools about the importance of reforestation.
As awareness of deforestation increases in Brazil,
schools are making efforts to better educate children
about the rich nature and biomes found in the Amazon.
In order to contribute to this movement, AAK employees
are sharing their knowledge and becoming agents of
sustainable change in their local communities.
In September 2019, AAK volunteers visited a primary
school nearby the AAK factory to conduct a workshop
with children of different ages. With the theme of “Hands
on Nature”, the goal of the project was to demonstrate
the fragility of nature and to emphasize that we must
take care of it.
Showing is often better than telling when teaching
people about plants, conservation, how harvesting
ZRUNVDQGKRZLWLQÀXHQFHVWKHODQG.QRZLQJWKDWWKH
children needed a practical experience to absorb all
the information, the AAK volunteers helped the children
SODQWÀRZHUVDQGWUHHVWKDWZLOOHYHQWXDOO\SURYLGHIUXLW
in the schoolyard.
“Planting trees felt like the most natural thing to do.
Starting with us, the students can now go home to
their families and talk about what they have learned,
DQGHYHQPRUHJHQHUDWLRQVFDQEHLQÀXHQFHGE\
this movement”, says Alan Patrick Reinert, AAK
Sustainability Team Member.
At this point, the staff at AAK Brazil is very conscious
about sustainability and how volunteering can make a
difference. Work has also been ongoing with employees
encouraging the planting of seedlings and trees with
their own families, growing a sustainable culture that
starts at home.
AAK Brazil
Teaching children about reforestation
*The Legal Amazon is an area where two of the most important biomes in Brazil meet (Amazon and Cerrado), offering
great conditions to plant agricultural commodities like soy, corn and other grains.
58