Voices from the South

In this fifth and final episode of Voices from the South, we’ll explore a possible future: one in which renewable energy succeeds in fulfilling its promise to rival fossil fuels, to the point of neutralizing—or at least reducing—the effects of climate change. To do this, we return to the Amazon to discover how scientists are producing increasingly efficient—and economically viable—fuels from sourc...

Mining is a key industry for both Australia and Brazil. Australia is the world’s leading producer of iron ore and lithium, and the second-largest exporter of coal and zinc. In Brazil, iron ore is also the mining sector’s most important product. We are the world’s second-largest producer, trailing only Australia… Brazil also has vast reserves of niobium, rare earths, and graphite… Australia has lit...

It is easy for anyone concerned about nature to imagine the Amazon preserved as a virgin forest, untouched by the destructive hand of man... Nothing could be further from the truth. Brazilian scientists now know that, far more than an immaculate forest, the Amazon is an immense garden, shaped over centuries by the hands of the peoples who lived there and managed the soil and seeds for the benefit...

The recipe for destroying a coral reef isn’t hard to follow. Add pollution to encourage algae growth, throw in a dash of overfishing to eliminate the fish that could eat those algae, and top it off with an extreme event: a major flood, a cyclone, a hurricane, or a heatwave caused by global warming. There you go! The bleached coral is ready to be served! This curious and frightening culinary analog...

In this first episode of our series on the role of science, technology and the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous peoples of Brazil and Australia in the fight for environmental preservation, we will delve into the ancient wisdom of the indigenous peoples of both countries. To draw, based on their nearly prehistoric traditions, a parallel between the past, present, and future of science in the t...