🌳 Brazil’s Valley of Death turns green

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Due to Good Friday and the Tiradentes federal holiday on Friday and Monday, respectively, our Brazil Daily newsletter will be back on Tuesday, Apr. 22.

The world’s former pollution capital becomes a Tree City

For most of those who visit the coast of São Paulo state — whether that be for the stunning beaches of the Litoral Norte region, the charming and historic city of Santos, or the countless waterfalls cascading down the jungle-covered escarpments of the Serra do Mar — there will be one part of the journey that seems a bit unsettling and incongruous.

After driving down the steep Serra do Mar towards the coast, the first thing one typically comes into contact with is the city of Cubatão, an industrial hub dotted with steelworks, refineries and chemical plants.

In the evening, the ever-present flames from the flare stacks of the Presidente Bernardes oil refinery make for a landscape reminiscent of the dystopic Los Angeles from the opening scene of “Blade Runner.” A local urban legend says that if those flames were ever to go out, the entire city of Cubatão would disappear forever.

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