Between 2024 and 2026, Alternativa Terrazul developed an intensive socio-environmental awareness campaign and promoted the Earth Charter with the Filhos da Águia da Portela children’s samba school in Rio de Janeiro. Through the project “Hope for a Better World – Youth from Rio’s Suburbs in the Fight Against Environmental Racism,” developed by Terrazul and the Teia Carta da Terra Brasil network in partnership with Oficina Paulo da Portela and Filhos da Águia, with support from the Casa Socioambiental Fund, a fruitful connection was established between the Portela community and the content of the Earth Charter. Because of this relationship, the Children’s School chose the Earth Charter and the Sustainable Development Goals as the basis for developing its theme for the 2026 carnival.
The Children’s Schools parade every year in the Marquês de Sapucaí, following the same format as the samba schools in the world-renowned parades. This year, Filhos da Águia took the theme “Masks of Justice” to the avenue, correlating ancestral knowledge and that derived from samba with the principles of the Earth Charter. About a thousand children and young people sang, danced, and wore costumes that communicated these principles, sharing with the community and the public the concern towards socio-environmental justice and the notion of ecological integrity. The school is divided into sections and floats. Each section carried a specific theme. The Filhos da Águia (Children of the Eagle) samba school featured sections representing Brazilian biomes, fauna, rivers, seas, and elements that are contributing to the degradation of the environment and the present lives of children and young people. Offering a strong critique of the current development model, the children’s school concluded the parade by raising the symbols of the Sustainable Development Goals in the form of a flag.
The parade was the culmination of a valuable socio-environmental awareness process. Now, as a new carnival cycle begins, the community carries on the initiative, employing measures that seek to make it a sustainable children’s school, thus promoting an intense agenda based on the principles of the Earth Charter and aiming for children and young people capable of making their voices heard.
