The New York Times Magazine

“What Does Sustainable Living Look Like? Maybe Like Uruguay”

Made in assignment for The New York Times Magazine

2022

My latest assignment for The New York Times Magazine took me to Uruguay, a small ranching nation that, in just over 15 years, has undergone an extraordinary green revolution. Home to 3.5 million people and more than 12 million cattle, Uruguay has emerged as an unlikely global leader in the fight against climate change, with 98% of its electricity now coming from renewable sources.

The transformation began under former President José Mujica, who championed wind and solar power as a way to reduce energy costs and dependency on imports. By 2016, wind farms had already cut more than $200 million a year in generation costs. Today, Uruguay no longer imports electricity from its neighbors—instead, it exports clean power across borders. The shift has not only freed the country from oil dependency but has also saved its economy more than half a billion dollars annually, proving that renewable energy can deliver both stability and prosperity.

Beyond the numbers, the impact is visible in daily life: a reliable power sector, a carbon footprint around five tons per capita—already close to the 1.5°C global warming target—and a society rethinking what “growth” and “sustainability” can mean in practice. Uruguay’s story shows that it is possible to build an energy system powered almost entirely by renewables in a relatively short time, reshaping landscapes, habits, and futures in the process.

Through my photographs, I wanted to capture this profound shift — not only as a story of technology and policy, but as a transformation of everyday life and the relationship between people and their land.

Special thanks to writer Noah Gallagher Shannon, with whom I had the opportunity to work in the field on this story, and to Rory Walsh and Kathy Ryan, photo editors, for their trust and patience.

To access the full edit please send a request to info@alessandrocinque.com

TEARSHEETS

MAPS