HANDS ACROSS THE SAND

 
Source: Speak Up


THE ENVIRONMENT HANDS ACROSS THE SAND

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, better known as the “BP oil disaster,” has been a dramatic reminder of the high environment coast of our dependence on oil. The explosion – and first spill – took place in April, and wasn’t completely sealed until September, allowing roughly 4.4 million barrels of oil to escape into the ocean.

FATHER AND SON

Yet American citizens were aware of the threat posed by oil long before the Deepwater disaster. The first moratorium on offshore drilling become law in the early 1980s and, after the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989. President George W. Bush began to relax it. It was expected that Barack Obama would have a different approach but he also seemed to support offshore drilling. Local state governments were similarity on favor. This was certainly the case in Florida, and one resident, Dave Rauschckolb, was particularly angry about this. Rauschckolb describes himself as “a  surfer and owner of there restaurants on the beach in Seaside, Florida” and he came up with the idea of organizing a protest. On February 13^th of last year (two months before the “BP Oil Spill”) thousands of Floridians linked hands on beaches around their state in order to “project” it against offshore drilling. The “Hands Across the Sand” movement was born.

ACROSS THE NATION

The Deepwater oil rig explosion (in which 11 people died) and its dramatic ecological impact on the Gulf Coast shoreline increased awareness of the whole energy question. The Hands Across the Sand group therefore decided to organize more protests in the United States and around the world on June 26^th (2010). John Weber who like Dave Rauschkolb, is also a member of another environmental campaign, Surfrider, says that “it ended up having almost 900 different events around the world and at least 100.000 people participated in the United States.”

THE NATION

Yet the horrors of the Deepwater disaster haven’t yet convinced all Americans that they need to think again about ht energy. Sarah Palin, the controversial former Governor of Alaska (the state where the Exxon Valdez spill took place), continues to chant “Drill, Baby, Drill!” but at least President Obama appears to have understood the problem, even if John Weber describes his position as “disappointing.”

AROUND THE WORLD

A total of 26 nations took part in the Hands Across the Sand protest in June 2010. The United States came first, with 826 events, while Canada managed 27 and Australia 10. Most other nations (such as Brazil, Colombia, Peru, South Africa, India and China, for example) organized two or three events each and the same was true of European nations. For more on Hands Across the Sand and the Deepwater disaster, visit: www.handsacrossthehand.com . www.surfrider.org . www.nottheanswer.org . http://oilspill.skytruth.org/

Rio de Janeiro, Rain in Brazil

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Source: www.maganews.com.br

Rain in Brazil

The greatest of all tragedies

Landslides [1] in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro have killed hundreds of people.  Thiscatastrophe was no surprise. In recent decades, hundreds of cities in several states have suffered from floods [2]  and landslides. There has been alack of [3] effort to prevent construction in areas at risk

Rain, rain and more rain. Hill-slides [4], rivers bursting [5] their banks. People dying and thousands of homes being destroyed.  These scenes have been repeated over and over in many Brazilian states in recent decades, especially in the summer months. The worst of all the tragedies took place on January 11 and 12, in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro.  The cities most affected were Nova Friburgo, Teresopólis, and Petrópolis. Up to January 31 the death toll [6] had reached 870 and more than 400 people were still missing [7]. The rain left nearly 30,000 people displaced[8] or homeless [94], and caused losses to the region's agricultural production. According to the United Nations (UN), extreme weather events will become more common in the coming years (see full story on the next page).

The root [10] of the problem

The Brazilian population has grown in recent decades.  Cities have grown, but chaotically.   Many people (especially the poorest) have had to build their homes in areas near rivers or hills, which are at risk from landslides and floods. The government has been unable to stop people building their homes in hazardous [11] locations. While cities are expanding, untouched areas [12] have been destroyed by deforestation [13]. It should be remembered that vegetation is vital, to absorb rainwater. According to Greenpeace, the rate of deforestation of the Atlantic Forest [14] has reached 34,000 hectares a year. In Rio de Janeiro, the state hit hardest [15] by the rains, over 80% of the forest has been cleared. Meanwhile, in recent years, the volume of rainfall has been increasing... 

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Primeira parte da matéria especial sobre as chuvas no Brasil, publicada na edição de número 59 da Revista Maganews (com áudios de David e Laís Hatton).

Picture (Nova Friburgo) - Valter Campanato/ABr

Vocabulary

1 landslide – deslizamento

2 floods – inundações

3 lack of – falta de

4 hill-slides – aqui = morros deslizando

5 rivers bursting their banks – rios transbordando

6 death toll – número (total) de mortos

7 missing – aqui = desaparecida (s)

8 displaced – desalojada

9 homeless – sem casa / desabrigado

10 root - raiz

11 hazardous – perigoso

12 untouched áreas – áreas verdes

13 deforestation – desmatamento

14 Atlantic Forest – Mata Atlântica

15 hardest – de forma mais dura / intensa