With debates raging across the United States about whether or not to remove dams that were built at a staggering rate on countless American rivers over the last 50-60 years, dams that are now widely recognized as responsible for severe habitat and ecosystem destruction and are largely considered more economically costly than beneficial, it is hard to imagine that the residents of perhaps the most pristine and intact natural ecosystem on the planet are facing a heated debate about whether to construct dams on the rivers which are the lifeblood of their region. In Patagonia however, on the shores of the Baker and Pascua Rivers, that is exactly what is happening.

There is little debate amongst the people of Patagonia on whether the dams should be built. In fact, almost 75% of Patagonians are opposed to the construction of these dams. Unfortunately, as a result of the fact that a former Chilean dictator sold off Patagonia's water rights to multinational corporations before being deposed, the citizens of Patagonia have no formal say in whether hydroelectric construction will take place.

Just about to emerge from this season's first heat wave, much of the Eastern United States saw soaring air temperatures this week, which in turn led to significant increases in soil temperatures. As a result, emergences of the periodical cicada (or magicada) which emerges when soil temperatures stabilize at 64 degrees, are being more commonly seen across much of the east coast.

The web site magicicada.org allows individuals to report sightings of these long-awaited bugs and plots the 500 most recent of these sightings on a map. In constrast to previous weeks, virtually all of the currently plotted sightings are from user reports over the last few days. Sightings are numerous throughout northern and central Virginia, central Pennsylvania and southern Connecticut, with particularly high numbers of sightings around Washington D.C., northern New Jersey and New York City.