After a summer of burning in the Amazon, an oil spill has hundreds of Brazilians outraged over the government’s environmental policies (Business Insider). Early this Sep., the oil began to wash up on the Brazilian shoreline. Now, almost two months later, it covers more than a thousand miles of Brazilian beaches.
The cause of the oil spill? No one has been able to identify the exact cause; however, in a recent statement made by Petrobras’ (Brazil’s state-run oil company) CEO, he claimed that the oil was Venezuelan most likely caused by a foreign ship sailing by. Furthermore, Salles, Brazil’s environmental minister, backed this stating, “This oil is Venezuelan. Its DNA is Venezuelan. This is certain” (Business Insider). However, Ibama President Eduardo Bim isn’t quick to place blame on the Venezuelan government, stating that while the DNA of the oil is Venezuelan, whether the Venezuelan government is to blame or not is a whole other question. Instead, they believe that criminal activity may be to blame.
However, Brazilians argue that the Venezuelan government isn’t the only one to blame, but rather the Brazilian government itself. Being deemed the country’s worst oil spill, citizens argue that not nearly enough has been done by the government to recover from it. While 500 soldiers were called, civilians have taken to the beaches, armed with nothing but rubber gloves and rudimentary fishing nets to take on the massive oil spill (Yahoo). Outraged, people have taken to social media, sharing videos of ill-equipped volunteers. Volunteers have even used social media to raise money. Calling themselves “Coast Guardians,” this volunteer group has gained 19,000 followers on Instagram and raised over $4,500. This money will be used to buy proper cleaning equipment such as protective gloves, boots and masks (The Guardian). One source from The Guardian said: “People in the northeast are cleaning the oil from the coast with their own hands while the federal government is immobile.”
Courtesy of CBS
And that’s not all: on Monday, Oct. 21, one of Brazil’s most prominent football teams, Sports Club Bahia, showed up to their big game in a new uniform. This one with black oil stains coating their recognizable red, white and blue jerseys (The Guardian).
With hundreds of miles of beaches covered in oil, volunteers can’t help but ask the question “when it will end?” Business Insider points out the uncertainty of the situation. While the volume of oil on beaches remains stable, it’s unclear to predict its end, because experts don’t know the cause of the spill. Already the oil spill has led to the death of at least 15 sea turtles (CBS). “Until we know what happened, it will be difficult to predict when the leak will stop,” a Reuters source says. “If a ship with a large oil load has sunk, the leak may still be happening.”
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