Chapter 5: The Urban Forest
“Acre’s urban forest was an effort to change the dominant culture by including the forest and forest people within it. Its failure to fully do so points to the limitations of green capitalism in shifting not just economic dynamics but also the cultures of which they are a part.” (Greenleaf 133)
Synopsis
“Chapter 5 explores forest valorization, and green capitalism more widely, as a cultural project. Efforts to make the forest culturally valuable were deeply linked to efforts to make it monetarily valuable in ways that reshaped the Acrean capital Rio Branco and the lives of some of its residents. This urban forest, as I explore it, sought to include the forest and forest people in dominant culture, transforming it in the process. Many urban residents benefited from this cultural valorization through its forest-themed public space and culture, as well as secure middle-class employment governing the forest from the city. Rural poverty and marginalization, though…The chapter elucidates how the limits and contradictions of the forest’s cultural valorization undermined green capitalism in Acre.” (Greenleaf 32)
Discussion Questions & Key Concepts
Key concepts: Urban forest
What was the relationship between the urban and rural forests in Acre?
How does that relationship help us to understand some Acreans’ rejection of green capitalism?
What makes green capitalism cultural?