Patagonia has staged a peaceful 500-employee-strong cacerolazo—a Chilean-style protest developed in the Pinochet era where citizens bang pots and pans in loud opposition—to protest the Chilean government’s approval of a North American company's construction of five large dams in the area of southern Chile that inspired Yvon Chouinard to name the company Patagonia.
Employees came armed with double boilers, frying pans and casserole pots. Banging on cookwear in noisy opposition, the employees protested to show solidarity with the thousands of Chileans protesting in Chile this week. Recent polls show that over 74 percent of the Chilean population is opposed to the dams. An estimated 30,000-40,000 people first turned out in Santiago, Chile, last week against the damming of their rivers. This week, thousands more will converge in Chile to show public opposition. Company officials organized the impromptu gathering because of Patagonia’s long abiding connection to the area that is its namesake.
The dams project is certain to destroy the character of one of Chile’s wildest regions – the region that inspired the company’s name and its ongoing efforts to do what it can to use business to protect and preserve the natural world. This part of southern Chile is considered one of the world’s last, great wilderness areas. It has been dubbed an “eco-gem” for its rare fauna, ice-sculptured fjords and almost total absence of industrial development.
National polls show a whopping 74% oppose construction of the dams and the 1,200 miles of transmission lines needed to carry the electricity to mining operations in the north. The transmission lines would be held by towers more than 200 feet high. Following a winding corridor almost 400-feet wide, a thousand miles of forest would have to be clear-cut and the rest of the corridor’s path similarly cleared. The corridor would intersect 64 communities and 14 protected areas. It would divide endangered forests and some of Chile’s most spectacular national parks. It would also open up rivers north of Patagonia to more dam building.
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