Two of Patagonia’s last free-flowing rivers are at risk of being dammed.
When I visited the region several years ago, the opposition movement was just beginning. Most residents of the far-flung places that would be most impacted by the dams still argued in support of it, largely thanks to a misleading PR campaign by the energy company that stands to profit from exporting hydropower.
Public opinion has changed dramatically since advocacy groups at the grassroots and international levels started working to combat the propaganda and the dams.
Among them is Team Rios Libres, a group of conservationists that includes photographers, documentary filmmakers, and the writer Craig Childs. They visited Patagonia in February with the following goal:
to give this threatened area a voice by documenting this incredible natural resource in its pristine state and by highlighting what the area means to the people, plants, and wildlife that make up its ecosystem.
The posts they published on Patagonia’s blog are insightful and alarming.
—KL
Source: thecleanestline.com
