My friend recently shared this picture on facebook with a description attached at reads:
I hope that this image travels the world . . .

"While newspapers and television talk about the lives of celebrities, the chief of the Kayapo tribe received the worst news of his life: Dilma, "The new president of Brazil, has given approval to build a huge hydroelectric plant (the third largest in the world). It is the death sentence for all the people near the river because the dam will flood 400,000 hectares of forest. More than 40,000 Indigenous Indians will have to find another place to live. The natural habitat destruction, deforestation and the disappearance of many species is a fact."
What moves me in my very bowels , making me ashamed of being part of Western culture, is the reaction of the chief of the Kayapo community when he learned of the decision—his gesture of dignity and helplessness before the advance of capitalist progress, modern predatory civilization that does not respect the differences . . .

But we know that a picture is worth a thousand words, showing the reality of the true price of our bourgeois "quality of life".

Sign the AVAAZ Petition to stop the dam here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/amazon_under_threat/"


This picture, along with the description, made me re-examine why I am going to Brazil and conducting the research that I am. The plan is to spend my research period studying the effects of the Belo Monte Dam on indigenous fishing cultures and habits, but what I am really trying to do is much bigger than that. I am trying to create a new way to assess the impact of something rather than just quantifying variables and turning it into an economic venture. It is typical to see our free market as the be all end all economic system, but the way in which our globalized economy has developed is not perfect and is definitely not the only solution. I am searching for a new way to view the world and perhaps find a break from the status quo by learning sustainable techniques from those who know them best.