Belo Monte be damned

What, may we ask, is in it for President Dilma of Brazil that persuades her to press ahead with this mad dam (Madam?) proposal when her environmental regulator and other top officials have all resigned over its disastrous environmental impact?

The Belo Monte mega-dam would flood huge tracts of rainforest and displace thousands of indigenous people. The dam's backers argue that it will supply Brazil's growing energy needs. But a far greater, greener, and cheaper supply of energy is available: energy efficiency. A WWF study found that efficiency alone could save the equivalent of 14 Belo Monte dams by 2020. The benefits of a truly green approach would go to everyone, rather than a handful of powerful corporations.

The case is best put by someone you will recognise if you’ve seen the film Avatar. Here in Brazil with its director James Cameron, protesting against the dam,
Sigourney Weaver brings the theme out of fiction to confront the same forces she was up against in the film.

When you’ve watched 'Defending the Rivers of the Amazon', sign the petition opposing the dam and calling for energy efficiency instead to protect the Amazon, its people, and its species.