In desperation, I gathered a team of some of the best scientists, environmentalists, and artists to document this tragedy. Almost 10 years after my first trip to the once pristine Amazon, I could no longer travel the rivers without witnessing mass ecological destruction. People driven by poverty and the desire for a better life have come, exploiting the sacred ground. It has become a new wild west, a place without law. Roads have been built and people have arrived. Since that time, I have been fortunate to travel back to the jungles of the Amazon. I came to learn firsthand how the Amazon is one of the most important places for the stability of our environment not only is the Amazon an untapped plethora of important species, it also houses countless trees that keep the world’s weather patterns steady. Our destination was the research station we had built to study and protect this critical ecosystem. I was traveling with an intrepid group of scientists. There we meandered along undulating brown rivers by boat, the best way to traverse this dense and roadless place. In the summer of 1999, I journeyed to the Peruvian Amazon, a remote and pristine area, the largest piece of contiguous rainforest left on the planet. She has been the recipient of the Charlottesville Village Award, the Dorothy Corwin Spirit of Life Award, the Global Syndicate Humanitarian Award, Worldwide Children’s Foundation of New York’s Humanitarian Award, the Hawaii International Film Festival’s Humanitarian Award, and the Pongo Award. Sarah has had both past and present board experience, serving on the following boards: University of Virginia Children’s Medical Center, the University of Virginia Council for the Arts, the Amazon Conservation Association, the Upton Foundation, Rachel’s Network, the Wake Forest University’s Board of Visitors, the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, and the D.C. In the fall of 2010, Sarah, along with Gigi Hancock, wife of legendary jazz great, Herbie Hancock, co–founded CIAMO, an arts and music school based in Benin, Africa. She works to build cross disciplinary curriculum that support core subjects, including middle and high school STEAM curriculum built around the documentary River of Gold. Sarah has been engaged in educational innovation for 25 years, creating projects both locally and globally. Her other film projects include producing the award-winning Kids Against Malaria music video P.S.A., a transmedia program to promote treatment and prevention for malaria in Africa and the Anthem for the Amazon music video, a video with the voices of 500 children from around the world singing to protect the Amazon. Sarah is a producer and co-director of the award winning film River of Gold and the short documentary Mercury Uprising, both films about illegal gold mining in the Amazon Rainforest. As the President and Founder of the Amazon Aid Foundation, Sarah works with Neotropical scientists to study Amazonian biodiversity with an eye toward educating the public and introducing cutting-edge conservation practices and on the ground solutions to the region. Sarah duPont is an award-winning humanitarian, educator and filmmaker and is a vocal advocate of ecological preservation.
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