Op-ed: The Tucuruí dam in Brazil is not ‘clean energy’ - A Tribute to Dilma Ferreira Silva
By Stephanie Jiménez
This article was written to commemorate World Water Day (March 22nd) and International Day Against Dams (March 14th)
By Stephanie Jiménez
This article was written to commemorate World Water Day (March 22nd) and International Day Against Dams (March 14th)
On January 25, 2019, the Córrego do Feijão dam, a tailings dam for an iron ore mine in Brumadinho, a Southeast city in Brazil, collapsed, leaving 134 people confirmed dead and 199 people missing, with little hope that they wi
On November 5th, 2015, an unprecedented environmental disaster took place in the interior state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. Two dams containing runoff material from nearby mines, ruptured and sent a wave of chemically hazardous sludge throughout the nearby regions. The dams, located in the municipality of Mariana, covered entire towns and wildlife in a thick layer of sludge, and moved its way to the Rio Doce which now runs a deep orange color.
The Brazilian government has placed its bet on Amazonian hydroelectric infrastructure as a key piece of its clean energy future. A national discourse about the green economy and sustainable development surround such large development projects today, despite the long and distressing historical track record of building large dams in the Amazon.