I'm sick and tired of the damn dams on these damn rivers

How many people in North America have heard of the Rio Baker? Bio-Bio? Yangtze? Many are aware of the Nile though, it is impossible not to. What do these rivers have in common? Both the Rio Bio-Bio and Baker are in Chile, the Yangtze is in China and the Nile? Most think about it as that river in Egypt like they learned in primary school. Any ideas yet? Let me add another river to this list that will make things a little clearer. The Colorado River, the blood of the southwest United States. Unless you have been living in a cave for your entire life you will know that the Colorado was once a mighty river now choked to death by heaping piles of concrete know as dams. This is the same fate that is befalling or already has to these other great rivers.

I am tired of people calling these large hydroelectric power projects green or something of that sort. These projects are so detrimental that it is so hard to even fathom as to why they exist. They destroy ecosystems, displace local populations and wreak havoc on natural patterns regulated by the rivers. As you can see I am against these monstrosities, but I am not alone. Recall back to the Chilean rivers, the Bio-Bio and the Baker. These two have become a rallying cry for group called Patagonia sin Represas, literally meaning Patagonia without dams.

Patagonia sin Represas is a multi-cultural group dedicated to the stopping and removal of dams in Chile. It is composed of Chileans, kayakers, Americans, farmers and many others. Unlike many other protest groups Patagonia Sin Represas has a very clear platform with strong support and strong protest. They use rivers like the Bio-Bio which has already been dammed and the Baker which is in the process of being dammed as signs of too little too late. The Chilean government has put in place plans to dam many of the rivers in Patagonia for the use of hydroelectric power.

Right now one of their biggest causes is for the stopping of a dam planned on the Rio Futaleufu. There is already a dam in place on the Rio Futaleufu on the Argentinian side, but there needs not to be one on the Chilean side. For five years now in partnership with Futa Friends they have organized a kayaking festival on the river which also acts as a protest of the damming of the river and to help the town of Futaleufu. It is hard to imagine the town without the river and vice a versa. The town relies on the river for its main source of income even more so after the volcanic eruption on the coast causing cataclysmic destruction to the town of Chaiten and moving the capital of the province to the town of Futaleufu. With the proposed dam the town would be flooded displacing thousands of people and ruining their lively hood. That along with the destruction of a great ecosystem creates a great catastrophe. They have also organized many protests in Santiago to spread their message and gain international support.

In the US there are groups like Restore Hetch Hetchy and American Whitewater that call for the stopping and destruction of dams. The United States has had some mild success with the destruction of the Condit dam on the Salmon River but in a land of great freedom I feel there needs to be much more done. Are we so afraid that we ourselves cannot resort to public protest? If the small country of Chile can take it into our own hands to precipitate change then why can’t we. Patagonia Sin Represas realizes that these dams as a coming problem whereas us here in the United States it has already over taken us. I for one would like to live to see a day where the Colorado River once again makes it to the ocean. Call me a dreamer, but I think it can be done. We are living as far as hydroelectric power is concerned in a world of antiquity.

The Hoover dam was built for both its energy capabilities but also as a dream of easing the Great Depression. Why are we running on old out dated technology? There are no great rivers anymore out east that have not been dammed by the Tennessee Valley Authority or their brethren and again they are all outdated pile of concrete and steel. In a world where we are trying to focus on being green, and using the latest technologies why do we still think that these great destructors called dams can save us. There was once a time when we didn’t know any better, but now we do and it is too late. The people in the Patagonia Sin Represas Group realize the situation and let’s take an example from them. We are a land of hundreds of millions of people we can create change and we can set an example for others to follow.