Winter is Coming - Deforestation in the Chilean Patagonia
As the Fulbright project begins to take shape, I've been doing as much listening, observing, and learning as possible to understand what types of environmental problems exist in the Chilean Patagonia, so that our modeling can provide some useful or impactful information. (Maybe not a great way to do 'science' but I can't seem to separate myself from the emotional attachment to nature). The most obvious issue in Coyhaique, Chile is air pollution , as the World Health Organization has identified . As I speak to more Chileans, I have come to realize that this is not an isolated problem. The poor air quality is a symptom of a much larger political/economic dynamic: in neoliberal Chile, energy from diesel, gas, and electricity is 4, 5, and 6 times as expensive as energy from wood, respectively (Schueftan & Gonzalez, 2013), whereas in generally leftist Argentina, heavy subsidies make natural gas 10–20, 5-10, and 10-20 times cheaper than diesel, firewood, and electri...
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