The three staples that dominate modern diets—corn, rice, and wheat—are familiar to Americans, but a dark horse takes the fourth spot: cassava. Although virtually unknown in temperate climates, cassava is an important food source in the tropics. It was domesticated 10,000 years ago on the southern edge of the Amazon basin in Brazil, and from… Read More »
In a small village deep in the dark Amazon jungle of Peru, there is a 108-year-old shaman. He is tired. He feels his journey on planet Earth is over. He wants to die. My mother left this earthly plane when she was 68. She had wanted to spend her twilight years traveling, but it was… Read More »
Over thousands of years, Indigenous peoples transformed it from a weedy plant into a crop that stores enormous amounts of starch in potato-like tubers, grows in the poor soils of Amazonia, and is virtually impervious to pests. Cassava’s many assets seem to make it an ideal product. But there’s a problem: Cassava is highly toxic.… Read More »
Brazil’s Amazon region has experienced both floods and droughts in recent years. Rising temperatures around the world are contributing to increasingly intense natural disasters. Photos show the impact of extreme weather conditions on residents of towns along the Amazon River. In 2021, towns along the Amazon River and its tributaries in Amazonas, Brazil, were flooded… Read More »