The Peppered Moth and Fordlandia: Matacao in Real Life?

I loved the way that environmental issues were presented using magical realism in Through the Arc of the Rain Forest. In the middle of the book, the ball in front of Kazumasa Ishimaru's head was describing that "what was most interesting about the discovery of the rain forest parking lot  was the way in which nature had moved to accommodate and make use of it" (100). The grotesque deformities of the animals that had inhabited this particular section of the rain forest were over-exaggerated and unrealistic, but they somehow captured the mood of what is actually taking place in the Amazon, and other environmental areas being effected by industrialization and cultivation. He describes how "the entomologists were shocked to discover that their rare butterfly only rested in the vinyl seats of Fords and Chevrolets and that their exquisite reddish coloring was actually due to a steady diet of hydrated ferric oxide, or rusty water" (100). Ew. He then goes on to describe a new species of mice. "These mice had developed suction cups on their feet that allowed them to crawl up the slippery sides and bottoms of the aircraft and cars" (100). This wouldn't actually happen to mice in the real world (or at least not anytime soon I hope) but there have been famous cases in the past where animals have been forced to genetically change to adapt to the quickly-changing environment caused by humans. I think the most famous example that most of us learned in school alongside our basic studies of the Industrial Revolution was the evolution of the peppered moth. Here is a short video that quickly explains this evolution.

Although this was recently scientifically proven to be false (apparently there were already variations in the color of this moth prior to the industrial revolution), I think that a similar issue is of concern to Yamashita and she does a brilliant job of expressing that concern using magical realism.

For those of you who are interested in the environmental history of the rainforest, I highly suggest (if you haven't already) looking into Fordlandia. Fordlandia was a suburban town created by the Ford Motor Company in the beginning of the 21st century to house Ford workers in the Amazon. The company was tired of paying for over-priced rubber through Great Britain, so Henry Ford decided to grow his own rubber in the Amazon. His company burnt acres and acres of trees down to make room for new rubber trees. However, Ford's limited knowledge of how to actually grow rubber and his stubborn refusal to seek professional help contributed to the downfall of Fordlandia (not to mention the disease, starvation, and clashes with the native people). Traces of Fordlandia are still left behind. Buildings, water towers, mailboxes, and fire hydrants are now overgrown. Yamashita's description of the "rain forest parking lot" is considerably similar to the actual remnants of Fordlandia (100). Here's a link to a brief description of Fordlandia and what it looks like today. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105068620.