It has begun: Belo Monte Dam

[txim_asawl]

Meanwhile, the on-site protests continue:

Hundreds Occupy Belo Monte Dam site - human banner | Amazon Watch | causes.com

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[Human No More]

Not bad... I hope nobody gets hurt though, on either side.

[Moco Loco]

Doesn't look like any water is actually going through that canal. I know that wasn't the purpose exactly, but it would make a nicer image

[txim_asawl]

What? The dam is now known as the "Pandora" Dam? - On-site protests update...

A better name would be the "Unobtainium" dam, since Pandora is the name of a healthy, green and natural world, where the native Na'vi live in and by Mother Nature's (Eywa's) rhythm. That beautiful (yet fictional) world is only scarred by Earthling greed for that mineral called Unobtainium, really...
My heart goes out to the real-world indigenous victims of "civilized" greed here on Earth.
(this is actually a direct quote of my comment on the Amazon Watch web site)

The sad thing is, that the final declaration of the Rio +20 summit has not put any clear landmarks when it comes to fighting climate change or protecting the indigenous... the aim was to not fall back behind the goals and obligations of the 1992 Rio summit - nothing more. In order to prevent a failure, like at the 2009 Copenhagen summit, the participating nations have reached a soft consensus, instead of really doing something... Well, since Belo Monte has been dubbed "The Pandora Dam", it's right to again comment what's happening at the Belo Monte site with a Neytiri quote: "This is sad... very sad only!"

Amazon Watch link to the "Pandora" Dam article:
AMAZON WATCH » As Rio+20 Gets Underway, Brazil's "Pandora" Dam Swarmed By Activists

German newspaper report about the end of the Rio +20 summit:
Rio+20-Gipfel: Der Beschluss, nichts zu beschließen - taz.de

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[auroraglacialis]

Those meetings are utterly useless. I hope people will at least realize that. All of them failed - the summits to prevent climate change, environmental destruction and so on always end up with no binding decisions. And thats rather logical because those people and to a large part the ones they represent as well would actually have to give something up to make it work. Progress, Money, GDP, Growth, Wealth, Luxuries, Lifestyle, Advantage over other countries,Power...
The Arms race of the 20th century bewteen the USSR and USA has turned into a global economic arms race that no one wants to loose by pulling back the efforts of relentless profitmaking. They paint it a bit green here and there to make it look good for the public - a nature reserve here and some remediation there and meanwhile things go down the drain elsewhere - and when crisis hits, those nature reserves make great places to get scarce resources later on. This is so sad.

In context of the Rio summit, there was actually an issue of the scientific magazine Nature on the related issues. One article struck me. It said that the tipping points to planetary collapse are near, that at some point in the not so distant future, the combination of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution will be irreversible. Presently, humans use about 40% of the primary production of the planet and about 80% of the land mass - for agriculture, forestry, cities,... If these numbers reach 50 resp 100%, it may well be the end of the ecosystems that we evolved with. And they actually propose in that paper that the only solution is a rapid population reduction combined with a even mor important massive reduction in consumption. Basically they are saying that the way we live in the industrialized or developing nations is not sustainable and will lead to planetary collapse. This is so depressing.
Then again last week on German TV at "Scobel", the director of the Senckenberg museum of natural history and Palaeontology repeated the facts. 130 (some others say 200) species go extinct every single f-ing day. That is one every half hour. That is a 1000 fold increase to the natural rate. Only asteroid impacts reach that speed of extinction. And 90-95% of the fish in the ocean are gone. And then I read in the Journal of the society of Geologists in Germany, that industrialized humans now move around 4 times as much soil and rock as Nature does. Plus there are parts of the ocean that have more plastic than plankton and phytoplancton seems to be in decline anyways. Not to mention the underwater clearcuts of seaweed forests destroyed by trawlers.
I could go on, but I will stop now with this rant, because I dont know what to do and because I wrote this again and again here and elsewhere and just get people shouting at me for that.

[CyanRachel]

Originally Posted by txim_asawl

What? The dam is now known as the "Pandora" Dam? - On-site protests update...

A better name would be the "Unobtainium" dam, since Pandora is the name of a healthy, green and natural world, where the native Na'vi live in and by Mother Nature's (Eywa's) rhythm. That beautiful (yet fictional) world is only scarred by Earthling greed for that mineral called Unobtainium, really...
My heart goes out to the real-world indigenous victims of "civilized" greed here on Earth.
(this is actually a direct quote of my comment on the Amazon Watch web site)

The sad thing is, that the final declaration of the Rio +20 summit has not put any clear landmarks when it comes to fighting climate change or protecting the indigenous... the aim was to not fall back behind the goals and obligations of the 1992 Rio summit - nothing more. In order to prevent a failure, like at the 2009 Copenhagen summit, the participating nations have reached a soft consensus, instead of really doing something... Well, since Belo Monte has been dubbed "The Pandora Dam", it's right to again comment what's happening at the Belo Monte site with a Neytiri quote: "This is sad... very sad only!"

Amazon Watch link to the "Pandora" Dam article:
AMAZON WATCH » As Rio+20 Gets Underway, Brazil's "Pandora" Dam Swarmed By Activists

German newspaper report about the end of the Rio +20 summit:
Rio+20-Gipfel: Der Beschluss, nichts zu beschließen - taz.de

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

Or they could call it the RDA Dam.

[txim_asawl]

AMAZON WATCH » Support Indigenous Occupation of the Belo Monte Dam Site



In the final days of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, several hundred members of the Xikrin, Juruna and Arara indigenous peoples affected by the Belo Monte Dam began an indigenous-led occupation of the construction site on Pimental Island in the Xingu River. The occupation – now in its 7th day – is gaining strength as more indigenous inhabitants come to join the blockade. Indigenous leaders have set up a peaceful encampment in the middle of the earthen coffer dam, confiscated keys to various trucks and earth moving equipment and stopped all construction works in the area. This action comes on the heels of a series of inspiring actions the past few weeks in the Xingu and in Rio by the people who face serious loss of their forests, their livelihoods and culture.

This protest is specifically calling attention to the failure on the part of the dam building consortium to address the grave impacts to the lives and livelihoods of the region's indigenous inhabitants. These – already being felt just from early stages of dam construction – stem from the diversion of the majority of the flow of the Xingu River away from the 62-mile stretch known as the Big Bend. Among the concerns cited by the indigenous leaders are their inability to use the river for travel thereby isolated without access; serious decline in fish stocks, their main source of protein; decline in water quality which is used for drinking and bathing; health impacts from anticipated rise in malaria and dengue fever, among others.



On Monday, a local judge rejected an eviction order request from NESA (the dam building consortium) for the police to forcibly remove the occupiers. The judge ruled that the indigenous communities' grievances were legitimate and that the government and companies needed to negotiate with them and address their concerns. Tomorrow, officials from the Brazilian government agency FUNAI and Electronorte (State-owned power company and the main stakeholder in the dam) are scheduled to travel to the occupation to dialogue with the communities.

(Since the article was published yesterday, "tomorrow" means today, really)

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[Human No More]

On Monday, a local judge rejected an eviction order request from NESA (the dam building consortium) for the police to forcibly remove the occupiers. The judge ruled that the indigenous communities' grievances were legitimate and that the government and companies needed to negotiate with them and address their concerns.

Maybe people locally might actually do something after all...

[txim_asawl]

The squat continues...

AMAZON WATCH » Day 10 of the Indigenous Occupation of the Belo Monte Pimental Dam Site

"Day 10 of the Indigenous Occupation of the Belo Monte Pimental Dam Site

June 30, 2012 | Atossa Soltani

Statement by Mukuku Xikrin, Spokesperson for the Occupation, as given to Atossa Soltani.
Audio available upon request.

Today we are in day 10 of the occupation. We had the meeting on Thursday with Norte Energia but did not reach any agreement. Construction on the coffer dam and in the work camp is still paralyzed. The Xikrin, the Arara and the Juruna of the Big Bend are still occupying the site. Many more of our relatives are asking for rides to get here. For this reason we are calling for support, for more resources to arrive as soon as possible to allow us to bring more of our people to join the occupation.

Today there are more our relatives arriving, the Parakana people are on their way to the occupation in the next few hours.

It was important for us to organize this action ourselves, the indigenous people of here without any help from white people because later we did not want the government or the company to say that it was the white people who put this idea in the indigenous people's head. For this reason, we did not want or need the help of anyone from the outside and we did it. Now we have taken the initiative we ask for outside support so we can continue the occupation.

At the meeting with Norte Energia we reached an agreement with the president where he said he would convey to all that work is stopped in the area of the coffer dam but then the company did not keep its word. Yesterday in a few parts of the cofferdam they were continuing to work. Our people confronted the workers and shut them down and now all work is once again paralyzed."

Right on. This is your land!



Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[txim_asawl]

Sometimes, it's the seemingly small and simple messages, that may have more impact than loud protests:



The caption on the photo translates as: 'I want peace and the Rio Xingu alive forever'.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[txim_asawl]

Great news!!

Even though it's just a temporary halt, it's a reason to celebrate a little:





Kudos and respect to the judge, being brave enough to stand up against big money. Let's hope, they cancel and abolish the project for good!

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[txim_asawl]

Now, this reminds me of those Na'vi arrows in RDA truck tires:





Wiggling bare toes,

~*Txim Asawl*~

[Human No More]

That's some progress, but it's still not a permanent decision.

What's sad is how I would bet that for all the time and money spent on it so far, Brazil could have developed infrastructure to generate far more power that does not need to be located in an environmentally sensitive area...

[ahoragi]

That is just awesome news!

[allroock123]

By Edict of a high Brazilian court all work has been suspended on the Belo Monte dam project until native peoples voices are heard and a full review is done on the impact
on there lives, statement made on (08/14/12)
Belo Monte Dam Suspended by High Brazilian Court | International Rivers