Video

Public money is funding the “sertanejo” museum in Brazil

The city government of Goiâna wants to build a R$ 60 million country-music complex. The project includes a museum, an arena, studios, event spaces, and immersive exhibitions, with the promise of turning the city into the “Brazilian Nashville.”

Beyond being a cultural project, this is also a political one. It reveals who holds power and which culture gets to occupy public space. The focus isn’t the traditional caipira music that grew out of rural life, nor the history of farm workers. Instead, it’s the modern, commercial version of sertanejo, tied to agribusiness, consumption, and the imagery of success.

The building becomes a commodity in architectural form, while hiding conflicts over land, pesticide use, and inequality in the countryside. Instead of critical memory, the project proposes a “hall of fame” featuring artists who already dominate the market. It becomes clear that this isn’t really a museum, it’s a massive showroom.

The building’s design follows the same logic: first comes the image meant to go viral, only later does the city enter the conversation. The proposal uses dark steel in a hot city like Goiânia, increasing heat, energy consumption, and operating costs, all paid for by taxpayers.

Public money plays a major role: tax incentives, budget amendments, public funds, and state-backed financing. Meanwhile, sertanejo is already the most profitable sector of Brazil’s music industry. The costs are socialized, but the profits remain concentrated.

At its core, the project turns culture into an economic asset and public space into support infrastructure for the market.

Interested in the topic?

Watch the video and understand what’s really behind Goiânia’s “sertanejo museum.”

Disclaimer: The video is in Brazilian Portuguese, but simultaneous translation and subtitles are available in multiple languages.

UGREEN

It’s started. And this is the best moment of the week

Just a quick note to state the obvious that a lot of people ignore: the UGREEN Pass Special Week starts today!

And, like I told you before, the best moment of the week is right now. That’s not marketing stuff, it’s simple logic. People who join at the beginning get the best conditions. Over the next few days, that changes.

If you’ve already taken a look inside, seen the schools, the topics, the approach, and the level of depth, then there’s no mystery here. It’s the same ecosystem. What changes is the entry point.

UGREEN Pass is still what it’s always been: a set of courses, tools, certifications, and a community focused on applying sustainability in the real world. In projects. In companies. In decisions that actually have to close. This isn’t content to kill time. It’s structure to work better.

Some people wait until the last day and then complain that “it wasn’t as good it was at the beginning.” Don’t be that person. If you’ve already decided this makes sense for your professional moment, today is the day.

Come in, secure your spot, and take advantage of the best conditions of the week.

👉 Access UGREEN Pass now:

On Thursday, I’ll let you know the week is coming to an end. But by then — as you can imagine — it won’t be the same deal anymore.

Video

Why do so many new homes in Brazil start out wrong?

A large share of new housing in the country fails at the most basic job: protecting people from heat, humidity, and lack of daylight. The result is bedrooms that grow mold, living rooms that turn into greenhouses in the afternoon, and energy bills that keep rising because air conditioning has become a survival tool. These are symptoms of a design standard that ignores climate, sun orientation, and ventilation.

Poorly oriented homes, without shading or cross-ventilation, increase thermal stress, raise the risk of respiratory illness, and undermine residents’ health. This burden falls hardest on lower-income families, who spend a larger share of their income on energy, have fewer resources to renovate, and rely more heavily on public healthcare.

This logic isn’t accidental. It comes from a production model that prioritizes short-term cost and speed over long-term performance, even when that creates permanent expenses for the buyer. The result is housing that is cheap to build, but expensive to live in, month after month, for years.

Beyond the health impacts, this model creates a lasting economic problem. Inefficient homes push families into what is known as energy poverty, where a growing share of income is spent just trying to make the home livable, through air conditioning, fans, or corrective renovations.

At the same time, simple and well-known solutions continue to be ignored, such as proper solar orientation, cross-ventilation, and shading strategies. The practical outcome is the large-scale repetition of design mistakes that turn housing a high and avoidable fixed cost over the entire life of the building.

Interested in this topic?

Watch the full video to understand why so many homes in Brazil are already obsolete when they’re built, and how this model came to exist.

Disclaimer: The video is in Brazilian Portuguese, but simultaneous translation and subtitles are available in multiple languages.