Ferruginous Geosystems and the Current Situation of Iron in Brazil: Economic Growth or Environmental Regression?

Abstract

In a recessive economic scenario, which imposes or exacerbates strong political and institutional pressures to Brazil’s environmental agenda, the geology practice in the country is, both in the academic and in the scientific fields—and above all, in its practical and professional applications, especially concerning the iron ore production—, ethically challenged to give answers that may dictate the fate of distinct spaces and crucial ecosystems. In this context, it is here illustrated that decisions that currently fall on the geological exercise may affect the present and future existence of an extraordinary diversity of life-forms, both human and nonhuman. The presentation that follows highlights the clear ethical dimension of the challenge that lies over the professionals of the country, for it reveals the inseparability between the technical and the political dimensions of the geological craft and points out that the geology science fulfills a central role for the environmental conservation (or degradation) of Ferruginous Geosystems.