the greatest amazon desaster!

[krzr3000]

I'm saying the loss of a few hundred trees is no big deal. The forest is large enough that it won't have a lasting effect. The dams WILL allow wildlife to pass through. I saw an hour long report on the news last night. The new dams they are about to put in ( not sure about some of the old one) have multiple gates and different levels that will be opened every few hours to allow fish and other animals through.

You saw an hour long report on the news about this specific dam last night? Usually stories like that have an accompanying web story or at least a mention of it online. Please give us more information about it, it would be informative in this thread.

 

[GolemGolem]

As far as I can tell we are all pretty ignorant. The people who study these things all day long seem to say we're boned. The cllimate is changing and the powerful people should of been doing something more for decades.
The problem is bigger than folks hopping in their f350s to drive two blocks to the gym, and the solutions are more complicated than wearing hemp pants...
Natural cycles are occuring but they are getting more lopsided, it still snows in Glacier Park, but the Glaciers are still melting more and more every year. I always wanted to see the Aral sea, and the Amazon...
Oh well.

 

[Younglin]

It was about problems in the amazon in general. I have no idea if there is a online report. Try discovery channels site? I looked and didn't see anything. A google search was likewise uninformative.

 

[Younglin]

As far as I can tell we are all pretty ignorant.

True. I only know what I read. Which is obviously not always true.

I think everyone should watch this episode. Just because they talk to some credible sources.

http://stagevu.com/video/jmyfuqxbpjkd

 

[krzr3000]

It was about problems in the amazon in general. I have no idea if there is a online report. Try discovery channels site? I looked and didn't see anything. A google search was likewise uninformative.

No offense but i seriously doubt you saw something about problems of the amazon and it claimed dams were good. Dams are considered a problem regarding the impacts on the wildlife, natural processes, and native people. It just doesn't make sense to claim dams are a good thing in modern times where most news about dams is along the lines of dam deconstruction and river restoration.

 

[Younglin]

problems of the amazon and it claimed dams were good.

It was talking about how these dams are better than older ones. Not that they are in general good. Some older ones have had HUGE negative impacts. I'm just saying that ( at least the ones they showed/toured) are not that bad. Yes having no dams would be better, but these ones are the best ( in terms of low impact on the environment) we will get. For now anyway.

 

[freeskier]

i guess what other people have reported over and over for years means nothing......turn on your tv sometimes = )

I'm saying the loss of a few hundred trees is no big deal. The forest is large enough that it won't have a lasting effect. The dams WILL allow wildlife to pass through. I saw an hour long report on the news last night. The new dams they are about to put in ( not sure about some of the old one) have multiple gates and different levels that will be opened every few hours to allow fish and other animals through.

perfect example of why "watching tv" isn't the end-all. NatGeo is owned by Fox, which is owned by News Corp (Rupert Murdoch). I choose to get my information, from multiple sources, and when possible from experts, and filter out the garbage. "garbage" in this case would be an hour long report that tells me everything is fine with building the Belo Monte dam.

For brevity, lets go with what the NY Times has to say, they are semi-respectable, have a slant, but atleast the spin is fairly obvious.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/world/americas/17brazil.html

Here is a description of the "boulder in the middle of a river":
To build Belo Monte, builders would have to excavate two huge channels larger than the Panama Canal to divert water from the main dam to the power plant. The reservoir would flood more than 160 square miles of forest while drying up a 60-mile stretch of the Xingu River, displacing more than 20,000 people, many from indigenous communities, according to non-governmental groups citing government figures.

Here is another very important paragraph.:
Studies by nongovernmental groups have shown that the plant would be inefficient, producing less than 30 percent of its capacity during the dry season and an average of 39 percent annually. Environmentalists fear the government would need to construct other dams upstream to guarantee enough water — dams that would flood more forest and affect yet more indigenous peoples.

I would love if more people could chime in with links to actual articles, facts, etc, about what Bleher's article was referring to. Zoodiver, that's directed to you. But please dont give me more garbage telling me to watch tv

 

[Zfishies]

look what i found on that sight!http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=40 anway, so it will come back? your title is missleading then lol thought it got like nucked and then the fish had like 10eye balls or somethin

 

[David R]

Thank you freeskier, anyone who thinks the Belo Monte dam project won't have huge and irreversible effects on the wildlife is living in a dream. So what if there's a channel allowing fish to pass through, that may help where there are migratory species (like salmon), but where you have species like L046 that has evolved to live in clean flowing water and that environment is rapidly changed into slow/still water full of rotting vegetation its not going to help at all...

 

[Chaitika]

These dams are designed to allow the river to be disturbed as little as possible. It still creates a reservoir but fish can still get to the other side. It will flood some forest and kill some trees. Big deal, there are like 900 million trees in the amazon.

Dams are designed to harness the power of the flowing river. They disturb the river in a big way. Yes they will create cheesy little fish ladders, but as mentioned that only benefits migrating fish, and even then, go to a local dam and watch the pelicans sit at the bottom of the ladder and pick off fish one by one.

The big issue with dams is it floods hundreds of square miles above them. The flooding displaces everyone, turns the natural habitats upside down and destroys fishing for the locals.