News Archives » amazon
Stop the Belo Monte Dam Project in the Amazon October 1st, 2010
Watch a ten-minute video on the BELO MONTE DAM project on the XINGU RIVER in the AMAZON which contains 1/5 of the worlds fresh water flows and sustains the livelihood of 25,000 Indian populations and innumerable species of plants and animals. It would be the 3rd largest hydro-electric dam in the world.
The $17Billion complex would generate electricity for aluminum, copper, tin, gold, bauxite and iron ore smelters, while diverting the Xingu River and flooding 200,000 hectares of land. Sixty dams are projected over the next twenty years including dams in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. The Amazon basin would become a stagnant reservoir.
Sign the petition asking for the cancellation of the Dam.
More information:
- Amazon Watch
- International Rivers
- Belo Monte Dam Tour: Sigourney Weaver Narrates New Google Earth Animation on Brazil’s Controversial Belo Monte Dam
Companies Respond to Consumer Demands on Environment July 1st, 2010
Activist campaigns targeting corporations have been surprisingly successful in changing corporate behavior and “greening” supply chains, particularly with regard to timber and beef products. For continued success though, consumers need to signal a clear preference for sustainably produced goods.
A Yale Environment 360 article details one campaign’s success:
Click here to read more »
Mastermind Behind Murder of Sr. Dorothy Stang Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison. April 16th, 2010
A jury in the Brazilian city of Belém has sentenced one of the two men believed to have ordered the murder of American-born nun, Sr. Dorothy Stang, SND, to 30 years in prison. The rancher, Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, was convicted of ordering the 2005 murder of Sister Dorothy who was originally from Dayton, Ohio. She was a longtime organizer of rural settlers and the poor in their efforts to protect their land from seizures by cattle ranchers and timber merchants.
The Sisters of Notre Dame in Belem, Brazil were following this trial of Mr. Moura – his third. They sent a letter to their fellow Sisters in the US telling of the successful conviction, unprecedented in Brazil.
