Arena Pantnal Almost Ready for World Cup

     Arena Pantanal, the soccer stadium created in Cuiaba, is almost ready to open. Although this arena is not a direct threat to its namesake, it's interesting to analyze it in a larger social context. Over the past six months, over a million Brazilians have protested the amount of money spent in preparation for the World Cup. The anger is due to the spending being double the budget, and that the extra money came from funds reserved for education, healthcare, and public transportation. The excess money used on security and new facilities could have been used to help alleviate the large social inequality that exists in Brazil. Bringing this back to the Pantanal, instead of honoring the stadium with its name, a less extravagant facility could have been built, with the extra money being spend directly on conservation efforts, or to help the poor in the region so that there is less tension between human resource need and protection of the Pantanal. Not to mention that it would probably help decrease the occurrence of poaching. People argue that the World Cup is a good thing for Brazil and can serve as an opportunity to demonstrate to the world what Brazil has to offer. If this were actually true, maybe less money should be spent on new facilities for tourists, and more on the people and environment that make it special.

-Catie