Hello, thank you for you very exciting books. I´m right now reading Sacred Ground.
May I put a little call here? It is for the Native American people of the Xingu valley in Brazil, whos homes and lives are threatened by big dams, planned by the Brazilian government:
Please help the peoples at the Upper Xingu (Xingu is a tributary to the Amazon river) in Brazil to survive. They live in an area where semi urban centers were located in the time between the thirteenth century and about 1650. Some of them today live in the so called Xingu Indigenous Park where the remnants of several peoples are trying to preserve their life and culture. Unfortunately also this last refuge for these peoples (who have been severely reduced by the contacts with the Europeans and the following violence, slavery, displacement, exploitation and disease) are still under the threat from logging, industries, soya plantations and the proposed building of large dams that threatens to destroy the nature and the native peoples way of life.
For those who want to protest against the building of the dams there is a petition one can sign:
Even if signing a petition is not enough to save these peoples and their environment it is still a start, getting the world to know about their situation and the threats to their existence. Also petitions and letters can let the Brazilian government know that there are people out in the world who cares about what is happening to the Native peoples and their environment.
More about the Xingu peoples protests against the Belo Monte dam and other destructive megaprojects in the Amazon:
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/5331
Now it seems that the Brazilian government are stepping up the conflict by granting an environmental license for the construction of the Belo Monte dam:
Quote: The dam, planned for the Xingu River in the northern state of Para, will be the third largest in the world and is estimated to cost 17 billion dollars.
It will flood 500 square kilometers of land, causing huge devastation to the rainforest, and have a major impact on fish stocks.
The livelihoods of thousands of tribal people who depend on the forest and river for food and water will be destroyed. Some face removal from their ancestral land.
