Saving the Amazon, one wood-carved spoon at a time

Pledges at global conferences such as COP26 to halt deforestation are all well and good. But they are worthless unless they translate into ground-level action like this venture.

Jackeane dos Santos Leite leans over a thin plank of wood, her brow furrowed above her plastic goggles. Carefully, she traces the shape of a spatula before powering up a small electric saw.

“I’ve only used this one a few times,” she says through the cloud of sawdust, her hands unsteady as she cuts into the tauari, or Brazilian oak wood. “The shape...