Reflection of Charlie Hamilton James GIP Presentation

I went into this night not knowing anything about Charlie Hamilton James, just with an interest in both photography and conservation. As a result, I had no idea what to expect. I did not expect for him to be both hilarious, passionate, wise, and serious all at once. He made the presentation both extremely engaging for the audience while still providing us with lots of information about his projects.

Source: http://charliehamiltonjames.com/the-amazon/6617blc4bfq9fy2f07ne1wemv0cl7w

He described how his goals of photography are to tell stories and unravel some of the preconceived notions some people have about others (whether they are indigenous tribes, illegal loggers, cattle farmers, gold miners, etc.). He emphasizes repeatedly how some of the most environmentally destructive people (which include the illegal loggers, cattle farmers, and gold miners) are also some of the nicest people he has met. They were just given a crappy hand in life and must do whatever they can to survive.

It was a wakeup call for me when he basically told us (and rich people in general) to get off our high horses when it comes to conservation. Instead of getting mad at poorer people for taking advantage of the Amazon and other national park's resources (and destroying them in the process) as a source of income (when we most likely would have done so in their shoes), we need to come up with alternative ways for them to get both an income and a food source because that is the only way we can protect both our planet's resources and other people's lives.

I loved that he emphasized investing money in people, not profit. He highlighted one project done to revamp a National Park that had been in decline due to a civil war going on in its location. The project invested tons of money (while receiving no profit/monetary reward) into all of the surrounding villages and provided them with jobs in the national park and factories nearby, etc. to keep everyone happy and fed while protecting the park's resources. Over time, that National Park began to rebuild, expand, and thrive.

Overall, I was made both incredibly depressed/hopeless and inspired/hopeful by his presentation. I came out wishing that everyone, including the US and other countries' governments, people of big corporations, and the general public, were required to listen to him speak at least once in their life (no matter how unlikely that would ever be). I found my eyes being opened more to other people's struggles and more aware of the world around me (and how we, Americans, are a major part of the problem). Charlie James put a lot of the responsibility on people outside of these poor countries, because we are the ones who want Peruvian beef, mahogany, palm oil, gold, etc. from other countries, so we are the cause of this demand that ends up causing a lot of harm to the environment. We need to examine our own lives and change ourselves before we judge others so harshly. Then, hopefully, we can come together, unite, and think of some way to protect our planet before it's too late.

More about him:
http://charliehamiltonjames.com/#our-story