Home/Posts Tagged ‘Ecuador’
Posts Tagged ‘Ecuador’
Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 23rd, 2012,
A rainbow coalition of indigenous groups and social/political activists recently hit the streets of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, in protest of large-scale mining projects approved by the country’s president Rafael Correa. Correa praised the Chinese mining project, claiming they will bring 50,000 jobs and billions in revenue. Though Correa is popular in Ecuador, the project is facing opposition. Ecuador has already suffered a massive oil spill in the Amazon region, and some 50% of the country is already covered by mining and oil extraction projects. So Ecuadorans are understandably wary of more major mining operations. See the following video…
Tags: Correa, Ecuador, indigenous, mining, oil, park, potash, protest, video, Yorkshire
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, Jan 2nd, 2012,
A combination of individuals and corporations, along with local, regional and national governments, has raised enough cash to temporarily halt the drilling of oil from the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador. The collection of money is being facilitated by the UN Development Group in a ‘crowdfunding’ project called the Ecuador Yasuní ITT Trust Fund. So far $116m (€89.5m) has been raised to help preserve this 722 square mile area of Amazonian rainforest. From the Guardian: The park, which is home to two tribes of uncontacted Indians, is thought to have more mammal, bird, amphibian and plant species than any other…
Tags: amazon, Ecuador, rainforest, Yasuni
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, Jul 18th, 2011,
Around 35% of Ecuador’s residents live below the poverty line. The economy of this South American nation depends overwhelmingly on its natural resources and agriculture. Half of the area of Ecuador is covered by the Amazon rainforest. The Ecuadoran Amazon is one of the richest, most bio-diverse place on the planet and the “lungs of the Earth”, supplying crucial oxygen and taking in vast amounts of CO2. However, beneath this extremely important carbon sink and treasure of natural life that the entire world benefits from is a huge amount of oil – $7bn worth. From a piece by Johann Hari:…
Tags: amazon, Ecuador, oil, rainforest
Climate Change, Politics, May 31st, 2011,
Climate change is back in the news and on the global political agenda. Sort of. It isn’t trumping nuclear power, but these two issues are related. Germany is planning to phase out its nuclear plants and ramp up its already strong renewable energy sector, though this has much more to do with the disaster in Fukushima than with climate change. Across the Atlantic, however, German support is crucial to a fund that seeks to preserve Ecuadoran rainforest land rather than exploiting the area for oil and pushing off indigenous peoples. From Deutsche Welle: Chief negotiator Yvonne Baki and a delegation…
Tags: australia, carbon tax, Climate change, Ecuador, emissions, Germany, nuclear
Pollution, Feb 15th, 2011,
An Ecuadoran court has found oil giant Chevron guilty of contaminating the South American country’s Amazon basin. A judge in an Ecuadoran court levied a fine of $8bn (€6bn) against Chevron for deaths, illnesses and monetary losses sustained by the local inhabitants of the rainforest from spills of toxic waste and crude oil. The spills are estimated by a Swedish University study to total 30bn gallons (113bn liters). This amount dwarfs the 205m gallons spilt by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. Though the suit is being touted as a hard fought victory for the indigenous people of Ecuador, the…
Tags: amazon, Chevron, court, Ecuador, Ecuadoran, oil, Pollution, rainforest, spill, TOXIC
Climate Change, Nature, Dec 5th, 2010,
The Ecuadorian volcano Tungurahua started spewing ash again yesterday. Due to this increase in seismic activity, followed by fire and rock spewing, enormous explosions and an ash cloud reaching 2 km (1,2 miles); the authorities in Ecuador have begun evacuation villages surrounding the volcano as ash started raining down on the nearby villages of Pondoa and Patate. The ground shaking explosions where felt as far as 10 km away from the volcano. The volcano, which has been in active state since 1999, is more than 5.000 meters high (16.400 feet) and lies about 130 km (80 miles) from Quito, the…
Tags: Ecuador, Tungurahua, Tungurahua volcano, volcano, volcano eruption ecuador
Climate Change, Pollution, Jun 26th, 2010,
It was only a matter of time before oil started raining down from the sky. It’s just ironic that it’s happening after we’ve past peak oil. It’s as if God is saying, ‘you want it that bad? Here, have some!’ I’m just waiting for someone to call it a renewable natural resource – after all, it’s plant-based and falling from the sky. Geo-engineering has unintentionally made this possible. In all seriousness, the whole ‘it’s raining oil in Louisiana’ scare comes from a shaky YouTube video in which it appears to be raining oil on a Louisiana street, but it could…
Tags: amazon, BP, Corexit 9500, dispersant, Ecuador, EPA, evaporate, Hari, Johann, Louisiana, oil, rain, raining, TOXIC
Climate Change, Nature, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Dec 8th, 2009,
“Climate change has been produced principally by the rich countries,” he has said, “and they have a duty to take responsibility for that. What we are proposing is a constructive way to redress the imbalance and stop further polluting of the planet.” –President of Ecuador Rafael Correa (source: London Times) Just the thought of an oilfield that is also a rainforest instantly conjures a multitude of problems: deforestation, toxic spills, economic upheaval and violation of indigenous land rights – not to mention the emissions. All this is happening in the Ecuadoran Amazon and with violent, deadly consequences for local inhabitants…
Tags: amazon, Ecuador, Ecuadoran, London Times, oil, Rafael Correa, rainforest
Nature, Politics, Oct 9th, 2009,
Fighting to save the environment almost always guarantees that death will be involved somewhere; the question is: Whose? Amazon Indians were battling police on Wednesday, in a protest against laws they believed would encourage mining and oil drilling on their lands. Taking place on the Upano River in Ecuador’s southeastern Morona Santiago jungle province, this brutal encounter killed 1 Indian and 2 civilians; and left 9 other Indians and 40 police wounded. According to Ecuador’s Amazon Indian federation, CONFENAIE, the 2 civilians who were killed were actually Shuar Indians. Amazon Indians fear that President Rafael Correa will bring ruin to…
Tags: activist, amazon rainforest, Ecuador, Indians
