We all know how important it is: the Amazon, home to over half of the planet’s remaining rainforest. Source of much of the world’s oxygen and biodiversity, and home to a rich diversity of indigenous cultures, the Amazon is a treasure trove.  Crisscrossing the jungle are the veins of the Amazon, its rivers. Moving matter, life and fluid from the Andes to the Atlantic, the Amazon river is the second longest river in the world and easily the largest river in terms of the amount of water it discharges- one fifth of the entire world’s total river flow.

Keeping the Amazon healthy means keeping its rivers healthy. In California, we are seeing the concrete effects of taking too much water from rivers and impairing their health with large dams. We have lost millions of dollars in the past five years as farmers have been forced to take valuable agricultural land out of production due to lack of Delta water. We have also lost money, livelihoods, and a food source as our native salmon teeter on the verge of extinct due to lack of spawning grounds and overfishing.  We will continue to see ramifications of our overbuilt and unsustainable water system in the years to come. Let’s learn from our mistakes and not make the same ones worldwide!

In what would be the third largest dam in the world, the Brazilian government is moving ahead with building Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River,

one of the Amazon’s largest tributaries. The dam, when finished, will flood more than 40,000 hectares of rainforest and displace over 20,000 people, threatening the survival of indigenous peoples in the area. Belo Monte Dam is part of the Brazilian government’s plan to build 60 large dams in the Amazon over the next twenty years. On Monday, hundreds of Brazilians, along with supporters in 17 different countries, protested the building of the Belo Monte Dam, supporting the health of the Amazon.

How you can help: Tomorrow, Thursday, August 25^th, people from all over the world demonstrate their support of the Amazon by participating in a twittermob. Be part of it!!

What you can do:

Today, press the “Follow me on Twitter” button on the right hand side of the page to keep updated with actions and posts of the Sweetwater Project. If you don’t have an account, take two minutes to sign up! Twitter is a highly effective way of protesting and showing support online. If you haven’t signed up yet, sign up now to become a part of the global movement to protect rivers!

Tomorrow, I will send out an email and a tweet for the twittermob. Copy and paste the message into twitter. Press ‘Tweet.’ And you’re done. You will have sent the message of “Protect the Amazon. Stop Belo Monte Dam” directly to the Brazilian government as well as banks and construction companies that are involved with building the dam.