Ecuador’s Achuar Declares Oil-free Amazon
In solidarity with Mother Earth and the Amazon, the indigenous Achuar people of Ecuador are taking a solid ‘No’ stance against new expansion of oil and gas production in the world’s most biologically diverse and endangered lands. As an alternative to the economies of energy extraction they are proposing that a new economy be built up around eco-tourism and conservation.
The Amazon is one of the most important regions in the world and governments throughout South America have repeatedly offered oil concessions to industry without consulting local populations and in frequent violation of their own laws. Therefore, government cannot be relied on to protect these precious natural gems, and in fact may be considered part of the threat to the health of the planet.
In this video, leaders of the Achuar nation explain their personal struggle to conserve the Amazon and to defend it from the practices of non-renewable energy extraction, and their noble efforts to help find alternatives to the economies of oil and gas.
Concerned individuals and threatened indigenous peoples are coming together at this critical time in Earth’s history to stand up against the juggernaut of industry and government in order to ensure that the damage being done to Amazon is halted. This is an epic struggle with global and cosmic implications, far more important even than another presidential election between Republicans and Democrats.
What can you do to help? Can you spread the word? Can find groups to support? Can you quit your materialistic consumer driven lifestyle? Can come down to the Amazon and stand in front of the bulldozers that are laying waste to the lungs of the Earth?
Video from Pachamama:
The Strength of the Achuar (Tarimiat Achuar Kakaram) from Pachamama Alliance on Vimeo.
Related articles
- Stop Devastating Oil Exploration On Native Lands (forcechange.com)
- Achuar Education Project- Ecuador South America (thedeanoftravel.typepad.com)
- The Age Of Extreme Oil – ‘This Used To Be A Forest?’ (freeinternetpress.com)
- Defend the Amazon – The Pachamama Alliance (womensphilanthropy.typepad.com)
- The age of extreme oil: ‘This used to be a forest?’ (theglobeandmail.com)
- The age of extreme oil: ‘This used to be a forest?’ – The Globe and Mail (2012indyinfo.com)
- An American Indian’s Tragic Account Of How The Oil Boom Changed His Town (businessinsider.com)
- Drumbeat: May 19, 2012 (fuelfix.com)
- In pictures: Oil issues unite rain forest natives with Northern Alberta aboriginals (theglobeandmail.com)
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