Friendly Fires

Back in Colorado fire is seen as a destructive force, one that wrecks havoc on the landscape every year. At home its use was limited to campfires, barbecues and birthday candles. But here in Paraguay its an integral part of the culture.

The festival of San Juan originates from Spain’s celebration of the summer solstice. In Paraguay, the holiday falls in the middle of winter, which is probably why so many of the activities involve fire.

Aside from celebrations, fire is used as a tool, almost daily. All my neighbors cook over open fires stocked with wood from the nearby forest.

The farmers here practice slash and burn to prepare the land for farming.

And because there is no trash pickup almost everyone burns their waste.

A little while ago my youth contact José proposed a massive clean up project, that would clear tons of trash from a community common area.

We rallied together about a dozen local youth who spent several weekends clearing the vegetation and raking the trash into piles. Then, like all trash in our community, it was burned.

In the end the project cleared over an acre of trash, involved the participation of dozens of people, and was overall praised by the community. But did the ends justify the means? Could we have done this better, perhaps without so much pollution?