From Petro-States to People-Power: Reflections on PowerShift Atlantic

By Nimisha Bastedo and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler Canada is a Petro-State – a prime example of a government that bows down to the oil industry while it turns its back on the land’s integrity and people’s basic rights. I’d been trying to keep tabs on my country’s dirty ways from across the border, but hearing it straight from those working on the front lines made it even more of a reality....

The Road to Rio+20

by Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler In less than a month Rio+20 will begin. Government delegations from nearly every country in the world will arrive in the RioCentro put on their translation headsets and try to find common ground on the future of humankind’s place in the environment. Thousands of people will flood the streets for the People’s Summit – which promises to foster an alternative,...

Belo Monstro: a first hand account of hydro-politics in Brazil

COA student Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler is currently in Altamira, Brazil, from where he sent us this dispatch. As an delegation heads off to the World Water Forum in France, this piece serves as a poignant reminder as to what is at stake in the world of hydropolitics. You can read more about Jivan's experiences on his blog.  ***** The Xingu and the dam run side by side through the social fabric of...