Posted
May 22, 2015
The
Amazon always had the allure of the exotic – and I am talking here
about the world's largest river and largest tropical rainforest.
(I'm not talking about the popular online marketplace for books, streaming video, and almost
everything else, from a giant pack of toilet paper to a dog mullet
headband with hair extensions!)
 |
| In case you are thinking, "I thought that the Nile was the largest rive in the world," I wanted to point out that the Nile is the LONGEST river in the world. The Amazon is largest by volume of water. |
Today's
famous birthday was a British botanical artist (an artist who
specialized in drawing plants) and environmentalist. Margaret Mee,
born on this date in 1909, was one of the first people to draw the
public's attention to the damage being done to the Amazon rainforest
by large-scale mining and deforestation.
Born
in England, she earned her degrees and began to teach in England, but
then decided to travel to other nations. She was actually in Berlin
in 1933, and she witnessed some of the early shenanigans by the
Nazis, including a boycott of goods made and sold by Jewish people.
She went back to England during the War, serving as a draughtswoman
at an aircraft factory. That means that she made detailed technical
plans and drawings so that workers would be able to build the planes.
In
1952, Mee moved to Brazil to teach art, but soon she joined
expeditions exploring the Amazon Basin, and she became a botanical
artist for various organizations. She published a book and helped put
on protests to draw worldwide attention to the problems occurring in
the Amazon.
Also
on this date:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
