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"In the later twentieth century, Brazil's right-wing military dictatorship built a spate of low carbon hydropower dams to electrify its cities and industries. The costs fell disproportionately on Indigenous communities and the environment. Johnson examines the implications across Brazil alongside global questions of politics and environmentalism"--
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Setting the Scene: Dictatorship and Industrial Growth; 2. Building the 'Big Dam': Economic and Political Considerations during Planning, 1960s-1970s; 3. Pharaonic Environmentalism: Mitigation Efforts during Planning and Reservoir Filling, 1970s-1980s; 4. Negotiating With Floodwaters: Impacts on Displaced Communities, 1970s-1990s; 5. Environmental Transformations: Impacts on National Parks, Fish, and Malaria, 1970s-1990s; 6. The Notorious Balbina Dam: The Dictatorship's Last and Most Infamous Dam, 1980s-1990s; 7. Aftermath: The Anti-Dam Movement, Social Injustice, and Climate Change, 1990s-2010s; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
Matthew P. Johnson, PhD, is an environmental historian and a 2022–2024 Environmental Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment.
Summary
During the later twentieth century, Brazil's right-wing military dictatorship built a vast network of hydropower dams that became one of the world's biggest low-carbon electricity grids. Weighed against these carbon savings, what were the costs? Johnson unpacks the social and environmental implications of this project, from the displacement of Indigenous and farming communities to the destruction of Amazonian biodiversity. Drawing on rich archival material from forty sites across Brazil, Paraguay, and the United States, including rarely accessed personal collections, Johnson explores the story of the military officers and engineers who created the dams and the protestors who fought them. Brazilian examples are analyzed within their global context, highlighting national issues with broad consequences for both social and environmental justice. In our race to halt global warming, it is vital that we learn from past experiences and draw clear distinctions between true environmentalism and greenwashed political expedience.
Foreword
This timely examination of hydropower in Brazil brings nuance to energy debates, centring social and environmental justice.
