Save Chilean Patagonia!
- by: Care2.com
- recipient: Chilean President Sebastián Piñera
An enormous hydroelectric dam is currently threatening two pristine glacial waterways that carve through Patagonia's majestic scenery. Planned by several international corporations, this $3.2 billion project would significantly damage 14 national parks and protected reserves.
The dam would flood river valleys and permanently ravage the habitat of native plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth. For example, this project directly threatens the habitat of the endangered Southern Huemal deer, of which there are fewer than a thousand left in the wild.
In addition, the project would drown 14,000 acres of forest, carve clear-cuts through fragile ecosystems, and eliminate the whitewater rapids that entice ecotourism to this region.
Energy production and economic progress, although doubtlessly important, do not have to involve the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources. Sign this petition to show your support for the protection of this beautiful corner of our natural world.
The Aysen region in Patagonia is one of Chile's last remaining pieces of remote, unspoiled wildnerness. The construction of the HidroAys�n dams would result in significant environmental impacts, flooding river valleys and destroying native plant and animal species found nowhere else on earth.
[Your comments here]
The economic benefits of this project do not justify the projected environmental damage. Chile currently has a great deal of potential in terms of renewable energy sources, including other dams in less sensitive areas, biomass from its large agricultural industry, year-round sun in the northern deserts, wind along the Pacific coast, and numerous geothermal sites.
I urge you to call off the HidroAys�n project due to its significant and irreversible environmental impacts while these other options are explored fully.
