Parana is northwestern state in
Brazil that is home to many major tributaries of the Amazon River, the largest
being the Madeira River. In this region, the Brazilian government has been
building many hydroelectric dams in order to accommodate the surging demand for
electricity, which is said to
increase 56% by 2021. However, several strikes and riots have occurred
in recent years at several dam building sites, the most recent being a 26 day
strike by 17,000 workers less than
month ago at the Jirau dam project along the banks of the Madeira River.
The workers argued that their wages were very low considering the rising cost
of living in Brazil. They also argued their living and working conditions in
Jaci Parana, a village who’s population has risen from 6,000 to 14,000 people
due to the need for laborers for the dam. The advance of the projects has
opened Brazil to criticism from environmental groups, which say that the
displacement of indigenous peoples and the flooding of swathes of rain forest-potentially
releasing large amounts of methane gas-outweigh the dams’ benefits.
I
selected this article for review because it relates to me very much. Much of my
extended family resides across Brazil, and I have a cousin who is from Parana.
This also relates to me because I have visited the Amazon river, including the
Rio Negro and the Madeira river, it’s two largest tributaries. I think that the
dams need to be built because Brazil can’t afford to preserve this vast trove
of natural resources. That being said, I also believe that it is the government’s
job to protect the native people who are being displaced by the construction of
the dam. They also need to ensure the well being of the rest of the rainforest
and the thousands of species of animals who live in it.
I
enjoyed reviewing this article for several reasons. I wanted to review it because
It affects my family, but also because the field of environmental science
intrigues me very much.
ROMERO,
SIMON. "Brazil's Rush to Develop Hydroelectric Power Brings Unrest." The New York Times. The New York Times,
06 May 2012. Web. 07 May 2012.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/world/americas/brazils-rush-to-develop-hydroelectric-power-brings-unrest.html?pagewanted=2>.
I commented on my classmate and friend Lucas Carneiro’s article. I found his article to be very interesting and also important to the environment of Brazil.
ReplyDeleteIn his review, Lucas presented many things particularly well. For example, I found that Lucas had a good introduction to his article. He did not go straight into the problem of the strikes and riots; he made sure to explain the situation and why the strikes were occurring. Another aspect that was well presented was Lucas’s use of data. His numbers and percentages seemed to be very concrete, and gave the reader a good idea of how the problems were affecting Brazil. Finally, I liked that Lucas had strong feeling for his topic, as you could clearly tell in his writing and reflection. He also made sure to voice his opinion on the situation.
I throughout enjoyed Lucas’s article and did not have much criticism on it. However, one thing he could do is re-read his review before handing it in, as I found a few typos or sentences that didn’t make complete sense. To be honest, I did not find anything besides these few typos to be wrong with Lucas’s article, as the summary was well put together, his reflection was very good. Maybe he could have criticized the article slightly more, as he solely said he enjoyed it.
One thing I learned from this article was that the Brazilian government’s building of hydroelectric dams has become a serious problem for Brazil. Although they are being built to accommodate for the surging demand for electricity, workers’ living and working conditions are unfair, and the displacement of indigenous people is not making people happy.
The reviewer of this article did a solid job. First of all, he explained the context of the article very clearly. He gave several statistics that set the stage for introducing the Brazilian workers’ perspective: Brazil was highly criticized by environmental groups, who said that the displacement of indigenous peoples and the flooding of swathes of rain forest-potentially releasing large amounts of methane gas-outweigh the Jirau dam project’s (along the banks of the Madeira River) benefits. He did a good job relaying the feeling of the workers that their wages were too low, though the dam was being built to accommodate more energy needs. Lastly, he made the article meaningful by connecting it back to his own life and the family he has in the area this article is written about.
ReplyDeleteOne thing he could have done to improve this would have been to include more information about the resolution of this problem, e.g. is the dam still going to continue to be built, and how are the environmental groups reacting? He also could have explained more about the negative effects of the dam. Some were touched upon, but weren’t elaborated.
After reading this article review I feel more informed about global events, and I’m glad to have learned more about specific environmental problems facing countries around the world that aren’t my own.
I chose to comment on Lucas Carneiro’s review of the article, "Brazil's Rush to Develop Hydroelectric Power Brings Unrest” by Simon Romero. This article talked about how Brazil’s building of hydroelectric dams along the tributaries of the Amazon Forest, is causing unrest among the workers. Lucas did many things that really impressed me. I loved how Lucas explained the situation and background of hydroelectric dams, then he went into the riots and the problems among the workers. I also liked how Lucas included the feelings of the workers and gave background on why they were angry. I thought Lucas did a great job relating this article back to himself. I felt that it gave the review a personal feel, and overall made it more interesting to read.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Lucas’s review was well done, I think there could have been a few improvements. I would have liked to see how the government is handling the riots and the unrest among the workers. Lucas could have addressed the what the government is doing about the indigenous being displaced and how the animals are losing land. I did find a few miscues in the review, as it got a bit sloppy. Lucas could have taken more time reviewing his work and correcting the few typos or confusing sentences.
I really enjoyed reading this article because it informed me about global events that I didn’t know about. I understood that Brazil was building hydroelectric dams, but I didn’t know about the issues that came with it. I like to learn about problems that don’t directly affect me, but are global environmental problems.
I think my peer Lucas Carneiro splendidly reviewed the very intriguing article, “Amid Brazil’s Rush to Develop, Workers Resist.” One thing I think he did especially well is providing a detailed background for the Madeira River, including its location, as well as its history with the Brazilian government. Another aspect where Lucas excelled is delivering a proper explanation on why the rioters at the Jirau dam project were so driven to revolt. Clearly, the poor living and working conditions, the rising cost of living, and the inadequate wages would spark anger in these hard workers. A final thing I think he did flawlessly was the strong connection between the article and himself. Being Brazilian himself, Lucas really knew what he was talking about. This included personal experience of actually being at these locations and as Lucas once stated, he had physically been to one of Brazils infamous Favelas, showing him first hand what the tribulations flaring in Brazil are like.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was great, there were a few things that Lucas could have improved upon in order to heighten his review. One thing Lucas could have done to fortify his review is maybe providing details on what exactly goes on in these riots and what they accomplish. Another thing Lucas could have improved upon is maybe explaining how these riots really affect him and his family. Clearly these riots have dramatic effects on his family in Brazil, like he stated, and I was interested to know how these environment displacing dams come into play in their daily lives.
I was very impressed by the fact that riots, on such a grand scale, are occurring over dam production. I would never think that so many people would come together to fight a common interest such as that. Overall, Lucas Carneiro did a great job reviewing an excellent article. Best of luck to his family in Brazil.
My Classmate, Lucas Carneiro, did a very good job of reviewing the article, “Amid Brazil’s rush to develop, Workers Resist.” He did an excellent job of explaining the situation in Brazil and why it is necessary because the article did not do that very well. I also liked how he mentioned specific statistics of how the dams would help Brazil in the future. He did a very good job of explaining why the dams were being built and I find it interesting that he has family that live in the city where the revolts happened.
ReplyDeleteI think Lucas could have gone into more detail of the effects the building of the dams have on people lives because he has relatives that live in Brazil who might be affected by the ongoing construction. He could have also explained the actual riots a little bit better because there were lots of details in the article but not in his review.
I learned that using hydroelectric power has started to become a much larger source of energy than in the past. I think that this can be useful for many other countries, not just Brazil because with natural gas prices at an all time high, people could start using hydroelectric power as a main source of energy and not rely on importing fuel from other countries.
I thought that my classmate, Lucas Carneiro, wrote a nice summary on the article, “Amid Brazil’s rush to develop, Workers Resist.” Lucas did a good job providing an introduction and context to an article, describing how the Brazilian government is trying to build hydroelectric dams in the Amazon River tributaries. Lucas also did a good job stating the workers' plight, which is the unfair and inadequate wages issued by the government. Lucas also described why the dams may not be entirely beneficial,since rain-forest flooding might result in the release of harmful methane gas.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I think Lucas could have mentioned more in detail is the result of these protests, and whether the building of the dams is being halted and the workers' concerns are being treated. I think another thing that Lucas could have improved on was a few grammatical errors; fixing them would have made the article more easy to read.
I enjoyed reading Lucas review because he had a personal connection with the article.He mentions that he has relatives who have lived in that area of the Amazon and he himself has visited that region as well. I thought Lucas chose an excellent article to which he could relate to.