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Brazilian dance team creates stunning light show dedicated to the Amazon rainforest for 'AGT'

"It was actually magic. One of my favorite ever acts," gushed Simon Cowell.

America's Got Talent/ Youtube

There was no way they were leaving that stage without a Golden Buzzer.

America’s Got Talent is back, baby. With twenty seasons under its belt, you’d think that we’ve seen it all, but then there always seems to be at least one act so fresh that it instantly raises the bar once more.

This time, that honor belongs to Lightwire Theater, a Brazilian-based company that incorporates dance and technology to create what they call “immersive art content.” And honestly…that description doesn’t even begin to cover it.

During their AGT audition, audiences were transported to the Amazon rainforest with slinking jaguars, dancing monkeys, colorful birds, and even a giant boa constrictor. Four human performers donning black suits with LED lights, transformed into these jungle creatures as giant animations on screens provided a lush backdrop.

All the while, a powerful soundtrack of drums and animal sounds played in the background, really driving it all home.

Watch:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

The routine was immediately met with uproarious applause from the audience and judges. But perhaps no one was as moved as Simon Cowell, who called it “magic.”

“This is one of the most beautiful, stunning acts that I have seen across all the Got Talents. You were so emotional. I don’t know why you were nervous, because you were always going to get one of — you know what’s coming…” he said, just before pressing the Golden Buzzer button.

Clearly, winning wasn’t the only motive for Lightwire. The company also wanted to (literally) illuminate the role rainforests play in all of our lives.

As one of the team members from Light Wire pointed out, “The Amazon is really important. The Amazon really matters [to the world].”

We hear a lot about the threat technology poses to making art, but here is a beautiful example that it can just as easily enhance art when used thoughtfully and intentionally. Time will tell as to whether or not Lightwire will win the whole enchilada (although, couldn't you see this show happening in Vegas, like yesterday?) but regardless, it has already won over many, many hearts and shown us what innovation really looks like.

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This artist is showcasing a new form of graffiti to shed light on deforestation.

"When you cut down a tree, it's like putting down a man."

When Philippe Echaroux, a French street artist, heard about how deforestation is affecting the Surui tribe in the Brazilian Amazon, he decided to throw a massive spotlight on it — literally.

One of several portraits of Surui tribe members. Photo by Philippe Echaroux, used with permission.

He did this by creating portraits of Surui tribe members, then projecting them in light, using the Amazon as his canvas. He calls this method of painting trees with light Street Art 2.0 because it goes beyond spray-painting a wall; it allows him to put a powerful message anywhere without doing any damage and take it down as quickly as he put it up.

In this case, the project's message is as simple and powerful as the portraits themselves. As Echaroux explains: "When you cut down a tree, it's like putting down a man."

He chose members of the Surui tribe as the focus of the project because the tribe is being directly affected by deforestation.

Photo by Philippe Echaroux, used with permission.

How bad is deforestation in Brazil? Here's what parts of the Brazilian Amazon look like today:

Northern Brazil. Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images.

For the Surui tribe, whose reserve is about the size of Rhode Island, the fight for land is often unfair — going back to 1969, when the Brazilian government lured them out of their rainforest home, according to the Washington Post. That infringement on the Surui's land caused disease to spread, food supplies to dwindle, and homes to be destroyed, all of which resulted in a population drop from 5,000 to just above 250.

The tribe has been fighting to preserve what little of their rainforest habitat it has left ever since. Today, that means trying to stop illegal logging — one of the main causes of deforestation in Brazil, according to Scientific American.

In 2007, the current Surui chief, Almir Narayamoga Surui, launched an innovative and high-tech plan to curtail illegal logging.

Photo by Philippe Echaroux, used with permission.

The tribe, whose population has rebounded to 1,350, uses Google Earth to monitor such illegal activity and report it to the authorities, ABC News reported. But 1,500 square miles of rainforest is rather expansive for one small tribe to keep tabs on, so, despite their best efforts, deforestation continues to eat away at their land.

That's why, Echaroux says, Chief Almir called on him to bring Street Art 2.0 to the Amazon, where his art "could help them be known, and make their difficulties known too."

The message Echaroux is illuminating on the Amazon is meant to make the world realize deforestation is an epidemic, and that the Surui are some of its human victims.

Photo by Philippe Echaroux, used with permission.

We lose 46,000-58,000 square miles of forest each year.

That's about 48 football fields every minute, according to the World Wildlife Fund. In that way, there couldn't be a more perfect medium for this artistic call to action.

Photo by Philippe Echaroux, used with permission.

This is the first time Echaroux has used his work to elevate an environmental issue, and he hopes the message inspires people to constructively help curtail deforestation efforts.

Photo by Philippe Echaroux, used with permission.

There are a lot of ways you can do this in your daily life, whether it's making a concerted effort to eat and use more local and sustainable foods (here's a handy guide for how to find them) or reducing your wood consumption as much as possible (and when you do have to buy paper, buying the kind with the highest recyclable content).

If you want to help the Surui directly, you can go to their website and sign a petition to stop illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon. Or if you want to learn how to help the other indigenous tribes affected by deforestation in the Amazon, Survival International is a great resource. The fight to preserve the rainforests is an ongoing battle for many indigenous tribes, and it's one that shows no signs of slowing. They need all the help they can get to protect their resources and homes.

The Surui may be one small tribe, but their conservation struggle is emblematic of cultures the world over. Hopefully these brightly lit creations will help make that abundantly clear.

Heroes

Norway just scored an important victory in the fight to protect the world's rainforests.

Norway is a pretty amazing place.

I mean DAMN. Photo by Ekornesvaag Svein Ove/AFP/Getty Images.

First of all, it's the happiest country in the world, according to a Forbes ranking. Probably because of all that delicious Norwegian salmon they get to eat. Which, by the way, they introduced to Japan in the 1970s — effectively inventing salmon sushi.

Thanks, Norway!

Norway has also done some pretty amazing things for the planet and the battle against climate change.

To be fair, Norway has a stockpile of over $800 billion from oil sales that it's been saving since the 1990s. That's a LOT of cash earned by profiting on fossil fuels.

That said, the internal workings of the country are super-green and getting greener.

They use hydropower to supply 95% of their electricity, and they plan to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 — a lofty goal that they're well on their way to completing.

Norway also does a lot for trees.

Trees! Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images.

Look around you. Do you see any trees? (Try going outside first.) How about now? See any?

I hope you do, because if you're near a tree, that means you're near a thing whose job it is to soak up greenhouse gases (like CO2) and pump out oxygen for you to breathe.

So go up to the tree and thank it. I'm not kidding. High-five that sucker and tell it it's doing a good job.

Trees are great for the climate, which means forests are REALLY great for the climate. Norway wants to protect those forests so they can keep helping us out.

A patch of rainforest in Borneo that was cleared for palm oil production. Photo by Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images.

Norway recently worked with Brazil to help save the Amazon rainforest, which was disappearing rapidly due to deforestation. But their commitment to forests didn't stop there.

Norway just made history by committing to zero deforestation.

What does that mean, exactly?

Well, as the World Resources Institute points out ... it's complicated and means different things to different people. But what it comes down to is that Norway's committing to avoid buying or using items that come from deforested areas.

Indonesia has some of the worst deforestation in the world. Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images.

Many private-sector companies have taken a similar pledge, but Norway is the first country to take it. This sets a new precedent for governments that want to act in a big way on climate change.

“This is an important victory in the fight to protect the rainforest," Nils HermannRanum of Rainforest Foundation Norway said in a statement, urging other countries like Germany and the U.K. to step up to match Norway's game.

The best part of Norway's commitment: You can make it too!

Committing to zero deforestation isn't limited to corporations and governments. There are many ways to ensure that you, as an individual, don't contribute to the rapid loss of forests.

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.

You can go paperless. You can look for the FSC seal on paper and wood products. You can try going vegetarian. (Do one vegetarian day a week if the full commitment scares you.) Or plant a tree! Plant a glorious tree and high-five it every day for encouragement.

We can all help save the world's forests, and the fact that Norway is stepping up as an entire country to help out is particularly awesome.

Hopefully this is only the start.

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Heroes

8 years ago Norway gave Brazil $1 billion. Here's how they used it to save the rainforest.

Rainforests are f***ing amazing.

They look cool, they sound cool, they even smell amazing. Like a combination of roses and fresh-cut grass. No, seriously, I spent the night in a rainforest once, and I swear the air smelled like sugar and hugs.

Plus mornings look like this. Photo by me.

Rainforests also do incredible things for the climate.

They're natural carbon filters. All that nature packed into one area basically makes them giant CO2 vacuums that pump out fresh oxygen.

When it comes to clean, breathable air, rainforests have our backs.

Unfortunately, deforestation all over the world threatens to make rainforests a thing of the past.

According to National Geographic, at the current rate of deforestation, rainforests will disappear completely within a hundred years. Which would be terrible for a lot of reasons.

Deforestation in northern Brazil. Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/Getty Images.

It would hurt the environment, it could wipe out the homes of millions of animals, and it would definitely make the world a less awesome place.

The biggest rainforest in the world is the Amazon, and it's been shrinking scarily fast.

From 1970 to 2015, the Amazon lost 768,935 square kilometers (296,887 square miles) of forest — about the size of Turkey. The worst year for Amazon deforestation was 2004, when 27,000 square kilometers of forest was lost.


Time-lapse of deforestation in the state of Rondônia in Brazil from 2000 to 2010. GIF via NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

Overall, deforestation has slowed, but a lot of work needs to be done to slow it further. Luckily, Brazil, which hosts about 60% of the Amazon rainforest, got some help.

Back in 2008, Norway pledged $1 billion to Brazil's Amazon protection fund to help it fight deforestation.

"We support Brazil's government and its efforts to preserve the forest and stop deforestation," said then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

The funds were to extend through 2015 on the condition that Brazil provide definitive proof that deforestation was being reduced. It was a worthy challenge and an incredible call to action from a country on the other side of the world.


The Amazon River in Brazil. Photo by Christophe Simon/Getty Images.

The best part is...

Brazil crushed it.

In the seven years since the pledge, Brazil managed to reduce deforestation by a stunning 75%, which translates to about 33,000 square miles of forest saved and 3.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide kept out of the atmosphere. According to National Geographic, that's three times bigger than the effect of taking all the cars in the U.S. off the road for a year.

So yeah. Ca-rushed it.

Norway applauded Brazil's absolute home run and paid up the final $100 million in September, with Norwegian Climate and Environment Minister Tine Sundtoft saying "Brazil has established what has become a model for other national climate change funds."

Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images.

Brazil plans to continue its work and has even pledged to eliminate deforestation completely by 2030.

It's going to take the whole world coming together to fight climate change effectively.

Brazil stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park with the help of a country that is over 6,000 miles away and doesn't have an inch of the Amazon on its soil. But Norway knows we're all on this planet together.

Photo by Jerome Vallette/Getty Images.

"This is an outstanding example of the kind of international collaboration we need to ensure the future sustainability of our planet," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said of the Brazilian deal.

It's the type of international cooperation I know I'd like to see more of. Norway saw an opportunity to help — not themselves, but the whole world. And they helped Brazil do something amazing.

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