Entomancer
Arachnobaron
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2010
- Messages
- 351
Hello.
There is a very large dam scheduled to be built over the Xingu river in Brazil. It is the third largest in the world.
It's construction has been delayed for years due to the extreme environmental impacts it will cause, but the questionable activities of certain branches of the Brazilian government have allowed this monstrosity past most political solutions.
It's called the Belo Monte dam. If it is constructed, many popular aquarium fish, including iconic species of catfish and cichlids, will forever lose a vast swath of critical habitat and spawning grounds. In addition, this dam will flood many hectares of rainforest, destroying habitat for all manner of sensitive bird, reptile, invertebrate, amphibian, and mammal species. Finally, it will submerge the homes of thousands of indigenous tribespeople that have lived there for centuries.
Brazil is building the dam because they are on the verge of an energy crisis. However, despite research proving that the dam will not fix the crisis and lose the majority of the energy that it will gather will be lost, and despite the availability of energy saving technology that would be less expensive to invest in, they insist on building it. If you would like to see the proof of my statements for yourself, the article at wikipedia has all the proof cited in the sources section:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Monte_Dam#References
I am merely a college student trying to get a degree and pay my way through school. I am not a world leader or political figure of any sort, and I imagine the rest of you aren't either. Unfortunately, that means that there isn't much we can do about this directly.
An organization called Amazonwatch has an online petition form that they are trying to get out to people to sign to try and stop this horrible dam from being built. I've signed it myself and spread it to three of my facebook accounts, so that I can make a difference, even if it is only a small one. If you could sign it too and spread it as far as you can, that would really help.
This is the form for the petition: http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stop-the-belo-monte-monster-dam
I also plan on spreading this to other fishkeeping sites, because I think that the tropical fish community has a unique angle on this issue that no other niche or community can lay claim to, and that may prove to be powerful.
I am also going to tip off my local newspapers to this, just in case it could help somehow. If any of those who read this post could think of a similar method of helping, it could very well go a longer way than you think and is worth pursuing.
I am not affiliated with amazonwatch or any other organization involved with this in any way. I'm just a passionate biology student who feels repsponsible for making sure that the species I love so much at home have a home of their own for generations to come in the Xingu river. I know I'm not much on my own, but I feel that the best way I can help is to try and give this issue as much exposure and press as possible.
If there is a website manager or other such moderator watching this topic, please, please, please consider putting something about it on the front page, or motioning to do so. The more people that know about this, the better, and if we can get the animal-keeping industry on this problem, we might stand a chance at stopping that dam from going in.
Again, the links to amazonwatch and the wikipedia sources for the data and facts in the related article are posted below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Monte_Dam#References
http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stop-the-belo-monte-monster-dam
There is a very large dam scheduled to be built over the Xingu river in Brazil. It is the third largest in the world.
It's construction has been delayed for years due to the extreme environmental impacts it will cause, but the questionable activities of certain branches of the Brazilian government have allowed this monstrosity past most political solutions.
It's called the Belo Monte dam. If it is constructed, many popular aquarium fish, including iconic species of catfish and cichlids, will forever lose a vast swath of critical habitat and spawning grounds. In addition, this dam will flood many hectares of rainforest, destroying habitat for all manner of sensitive bird, reptile, invertebrate, amphibian, and mammal species. Finally, it will submerge the homes of thousands of indigenous tribespeople that have lived there for centuries.
Brazil is building the dam because they are on the verge of an energy crisis. However, despite research proving that the dam will not fix the crisis and lose the majority of the energy that it will gather will be lost, and despite the availability of energy saving technology that would be less expensive to invest in, they insist on building it. If you would like to see the proof of my statements for yourself, the article at wikipedia has all the proof cited in the sources section:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Monte_Dam#References
I am merely a college student trying to get a degree and pay my way through school. I am not a world leader or political figure of any sort, and I imagine the rest of you aren't either. Unfortunately, that means that there isn't much we can do about this directly.
An organization called Amazonwatch has an online petition form that they are trying to get out to people to sign to try and stop this horrible dam from being built. I've signed it myself and spread it to three of my facebook accounts, so that I can make a difference, even if it is only a small one. If you could sign it too and spread it as far as you can, that would really help.
This is the form for the petition: http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stop-the-belo-monte-monster-dam
I also plan on spreading this to other fishkeeping sites, because I think that the tropical fish community has a unique angle on this issue that no other niche or community can lay claim to, and that may prove to be powerful.
I am also going to tip off my local newspapers to this, just in case it could help somehow. If any of those who read this post could think of a similar method of helping, it could very well go a longer way than you think and is worth pursuing.
I am not affiliated with amazonwatch or any other organization involved with this in any way. I'm just a passionate biology student who feels repsponsible for making sure that the species I love so much at home have a home of their own for generations to come in the Xingu river. I know I'm not much on my own, but I feel that the best way I can help is to try and give this issue as much exposure and press as possible.
If there is a website manager or other such moderator watching this topic, please, please, please consider putting something about it on the front page, or motioning to do so. The more people that know about this, the better, and if we can get the animal-keeping industry on this problem, we might stand a chance at stopping that dam from going in.
Again, the links to amazonwatch and the wikipedia sources for the data and facts in the related article are posted below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Monte_Dam#References
http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stop-the-belo-monte-monster-dam
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