conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the first four paragraphs for a book with the title 'The Burning Season'?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Burning Season
  Subsequent waves of miners, slavers, coffee barons, rubber barons, and finally ranchers resulted in a toll that far exceeds even the slaughter in North America. The Indians were considered little more than bichos do mato, beasts of the forest. The rubber trade was as devastating to the Indians as any of the other inducements that brought white men into the forest. In some areas, the Indians were forced to tap the rubber trees. The most notorious example was in Peru, where tens of thousands of Indians along the Putumayo River were forced to harvest rubber for a British company and were tortured or killed if they lagged or fled. Skirmishes often erupted between rubber tappers and Indians—with a killing requiring a reprisal and vice versa. (It was only through the efforts of Chico Mendes and the leaders of Brazil's burgeoning Indian rights movement in the late 1980s that the rubber tappers and Indians improved their relations and forged the Alliance of the Peoples of the Forest. They agreed that the new wave of ranchers and miners flooding the Amazon posed a common threat that far outweighed their old animosity.)
  Wherever white men went in Brazil, Indians who were not intentionally murdered succumbed. Sometimes the cause was disease; the Indians had no natural immunity to influenza, measles, and other infections carried by the civilizados, the white newcomers. And the spread of disease was not always an accident. There are various reports, some from this century, that clothing was taken from smallpox victims and strung along Indian trails as a diabolical gift. At other times, the Indians simply were victims of cultural murder—called ethnocide by anthropologists—as merchants and missionaries ensnared them in the Western net of commerce, religion, and alcohol.
  Not until 1910 did the Brazilian republic make its first effort to limit these abuses. The Indian Protection Service was anything but comprehensive; initiated by Colonel Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, it was mainly a one-man show. Rondon was born on the edge of the Amazon, in Cuiabá, and led acclaimed expeditions into virgin parts of the territory now named Rondônia in his honor. Rondon insisted that the Indian tribes he contacted along the way be approached slowly and dealt with humanely. His trailblazing teams of sertanistas became renowned for their ability to establish relations with reclusive tribes. Their motto was: "Die if necessary, but never kill." Many did die and, until 1930, no Indians were killed.
  When Getúlio Vargas came to power that year, Rondon was forced out, and the Indian Protection Service was soon transformed into a tool of the white settlers. By the 1960s, it was widely known that the agency was participating in Indian massacres. In 1968, an investigation into reported atrocities produced testimony alleging that the "protection" service had helped to poison Indian children, infect tribes with diseases, and force Indian women into prostitution.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the last sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: The Burning Season
  Subsequent waves of miners, slavers, coffee barons, rubber barons, and finally ranchers resulted in a toll that far exceeds even the slaughter in North America. The Indians were considered little more than bichos do mato, beasts of the forest. The rubber trade was as devastating to the Indians as any of the other inducements that brought white men into the forest. In some areas, the Indians were forced to tap the rubber trees. The most notorious example was in Peru, where tens of thousands of Indians along the Putumayo River were forced to harvest rubber for a British company and were tortured or killed if they lagged or fled. Skirmishes often erupted between rubber tappers and Indians—with a killing requiring a reprisal and vice versa. (It was only through the efforts of Chico Mendes and the leaders of Brazil's burgeoning Indian rights movement in the late 1980s that the rubber tappers and Indians improved their relations and forged the Alliance of the Peoples of the Forest. They agreed that the new wave of ranchers and miners flooding the Amazon posed a common threat that far outweighed their old animosity.)
  Wherever white men went in Brazil, Indians who were not intentionally murdered succumbed. Sometimes the cause was disease; the Indians had no natural immunity to influenza, measles, and other infections carried by the civilizados, the white newcomers. And the spread of disease was not always an accident. There are various reports, some from this century, that clothing was taken from smallpox victims and strung along Indian trails as a diabolical gift. At other times, the Indians simply were victims of cultural murder—called ethnocide by anthropologists—as merchants and missionaries ensnared them in the Western net of commerce, religion, and alcohol.
  Not until 1910 did the Brazilian republic make its first effort to limit these abuses. The Indian Protection Service was anything but comprehensive; initiated by Colonel Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon, it was mainly a one-man show. Rondon was born on the edge of the Amazon, in Cuiabá, and led acclaimed expeditions into virgin parts of the territory now named Rondônia in his honor. Rondon insisted that the Indian tribes he contacted along the way be approached slowly and dealt with humanely. His trailblazing teams of sertanistas became renowned for their ability to establish relations with reclusive tribes. Their motto was: "Die if necessary, but never kill." Many did die and, until 1930, no Indians were killed.
  When Getúlio Vargas came to power that year, Rondon was forced out, and the Indian Protection Service was soon transformed into a tool of the white settlers. By the 1960s, it was widely known that the agency was participating in Indian massacres.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is five more paragraphs?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Mendes had come to Plácido de Castro to give a speech along with the local candidates from PT. Cowell decided to film the speech, but it had been dark all day, so he had to set up some floodlights. Soon a crowd gathered. The first speakers urged the workers to get out the vote. Then two Indians spoke, supporting Mendes's call for the defense of the forest. Finally it was Mendes's turn. Cowell turned on the floodlights and rolled the film. Instantly, the streetlights dimmed, then everything went black. It seemed typical of Mendes's luck in politics: they had shorted out the entire town.
  In the darkness, Mendes, de Barros, and Rodrigues retreated to a small bar with Cowell and Allegretti. They all drank some beer by candlelight and talked of what lay ahead. In the ensuing conversation, Mendes made a commitment that would take his life down two dramatically different tracks. One Chico Mendes would become something of an international celebrity, the subject of profiles in leading newspapers around the world, the recipient of prestigious environmental awards; the other would remain a man of Xapuri and face a growing number of death threats, political attacks, and domestic troubles.
  During the discussion that night, Cowell and Allegretti raised the prospect of Mendes's flying to the United States to deliver his message directly to the Inter-American Development Bank and the U.S. Congress. They spelled out why this action would be useful: the American environmentalists could effectively campaign against the road only if the rubber tappers themselves formally said they did not want it. The environmentalists needed to campaign on behalf of someone.
  Allegretti well knew what it meant to take the fight overseas. In May 1986, while Mendes was staging empates against the Bordon ranch, she had made her second trip to Washington. She and Schwartzman had testified about the situation in the Amazon at a Senate hearing, chaired by Senator Kasten, on the environmental problems created by multilateral bank loans. Back in Brazil, Allegretti had been attacked by both politicians and the press as a front for American interests who wanted to control the Amazon's riches. She was the papagaio da pirata—the parrot of the pirate. The National Confederation of Agriculture, the most conservative ranchers' lobby, issued a white paper denouncing her.
  Once the proposal was laid out, de Barros said quite flatly, "I can't understand any of this." Mendes was quiet and seemed distracted. He may have been thinking about his probable loss in the upcoming election and trying to chart his future. Finally, putting his trust in the strengthening—if improbable—friendships he had forged with these people, Mendes said he would go.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What is the last four paragraphs? Start with the sentence 'Protects rain forest ecosystems and the people and wildlife within them by helping companies adopt business practices that sustain biodiversity'.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Protects rain forest ecosystems and the people and wildlife within them by helping companies adopt business practices that sustain biodiversity. Products generated this way have ranged from bananas and coffee to guitars.
  The largest privately supported international conservation organization in the world, has conducted pioneering research on Amazon ecology. Works with Indians and other rain forest communities to improve the ecology and economics of rubber and Brazil nut harvesting.
  I am grateful to Mary Helena Allegretti, president of the Institute for Amazonian Studies, for many interviews and access to the institute's files. Sister Michael Mary Nolan, the lawyer conducting a parallel investigation of the Mendes murder—and of dozens of similar crimes around Brazil —provided crucial access to a mountain of court and police records. Adrian Cowell, Mauro Almeida, Tony Gross, João Maia, and Jorge Terena were among many who described the history of the rubber tapper and Indian movements. Douglas Daly, of the New York Botanical Garden, guided me through the confounding maze of tropical biology. I crossed paths with Brazil's outgoing environmental chief, Fernando Mesquita, and the man who later became Brazil's new secretary of the environment, José Lutzenberger—thanks go to both for their time (and good luck to Secretary Lutzenberger).
  Donald D. Pearson provided gracious hospitality during my stay in Brazil. Silvio Martinello, Elson Martins, and Anivaldo Padilha helped round up photographs. In the United States, Veronica Gardiner gamely translated one hundred and twenty hours of tapes. Stephan Schwartzman of the Environmental Defense Fund, Barbara Bramble of the National Wildlife Federation, Daniel Katz of the Rainforest Alliance, and Jason Clay of Cultural Survival gave generously of their time. Linda Rabben and the Brazil Network put me in touch with many helpful people.