Searching for amethyst, a semiprecious stone, miners dig tunnels through the mountains in southern Brazil. This kind of mining is known for its harmful dust. The silicon dioxide particles can trespass the filter masks causing silicosis disease. Over 50% of amethyst miners had developed the silicosis, a disease that has only one cure: Lung transplant.

Between 1960 and 1980, when Brazil was governed by a military dictatorship, the Amazon Rainforest was a symbol of backwardness. Many efforts were made by dictatorial presidents to clear the forest and occupy that vastness during an era called by them as "The Brazilian Miracle". Our past generations were affected by a kind of environmental blindness. Millions of square miles of the richiest bioma on planet were annihilated to give place for pasture, plantation and mining. Although the environmental conservation is a today's imperative term, and science has reached great production techniques, the habits from our past are still predominant. With the rampage of the right-wing extremists, the political message has spread the confidence to keep burning and exploring the forest. Less than a year after the Jair Bolsonaro presidential election, oficial data confirm the enourmous increase on deforestation. In 2019 July, the Brazilian Amazon deforestation has increased by 278% when compared to the same period of 2018.

Gold mining in Amazon is responsible for water contamination and Amazonia biome destruction.

Belo Monte hydroelectric plan construction, in 2014, killed millions of acres of rainforest, small rivers and part of Amazon fauna.

Pantanal is the world's largest wetland. It is connected to Amazon bioma.

People searching for pieces of metal, such as copper and aluminum, at a clandestine landfill

Cubatão is an industrial city located in the middle of Mata Atlântica bioma, Brazil's largest petroleum plants are there

Ricardo Salles was Brazil's Environment Minister during the first 2 years of president Bolsonaro government. He is known for a conter-ambientalism politic.

Between 1960 and 1980, when Brazil was governed by a military dictatorship, the Amazon Rainforest was a symbol of backwardness. Many efforts were made by dictatorial presidents to clear the forest and occupy that vastness during an era called by them as "The Brazilian Miracle". Our past generations were affected by a kind of environmental blindness. Millions of square miles of the richiest bioma on planet were annihilated to give place for pasture, plantation and mining. Although the nature conservation is a today's imperative term, and science has reached great production techniques, the habits from our past are still predominant. With the rampage of the right-wing extremists, the political message has spread the confidence to keep burning and exploring the forest. Less than a year after the presidential election, oficial data confirm the enourmous increase on deforestation. In 2019 July, the Brazilian Amazon deforestation has increased by 278% when compared to the same period of 2018. Despite the fact that our contemporary society has found the cure for the environmental blindness, it seems that Brazilians have been blindfolded, and are still walking on a land of darkness.

Mata Atlântica is a rich bioma that covers the entire Atlantic coast, on eastern Brazil.

Fire destroys part of Brasilia's Cerrado.