Group items tagged

According to a government report, deforestation of the Amazon by Brazil as decreased by twenty seven percent in the last year. This is a big improvement for a country who's economy has previously relied very much upon the industries that accompany deforestation. Unfortunately, even with a twenty seven percent decrease in deforestation, deforestation is still occurring at an alarming rate. Also worrisome is the fact that Brazil seems to have recently loosened some of it's environmental protection laws.

Essentially this article describes a long drawn out legal battle, starting in the 70s, between Chevron and the residents of a region in Ecuador. Apparently the oil company, then Texaco, released billions (yes, billions) of gallons of toxic waste in an area affecting parts of the Amazon. Despite the opinion of the Ecuadorians, Chevron claims their end of the issue has been long settled. - This case seems to bring to light several noteworthy factors. Involved is a major pollution event as opposed to accumulative issues such as global warming. So the immediate responses to these differing kinds of environmental problems is, of course, quite different. With a major event an expeditious 'clean up' is always a priority, but there is still a paradigmatic similarity regarding the effects of pollution on the environment over time. That is, the difficulty and/or unwillingness to accept and deal with the long term damage incurred. Also relevant, one may consider the global political implications of cases like these. The consequences of American companies destroying foreign lands seems interesting in itself, but equally so is the relationship of courts and legal systems in different countries.- I will be interested to see if Chevron ever pays. tl;dr- 1970s Chevron spill shows a glimpse of political complications across borders.

Good point about discrete events vs. longer-term processes in regard to whether that makes them more manageable to resolve (you would think so, but....) Toxic waste is a huge global issue (and certainly not inconsequential in the US), and the electronic waste issue is a big one. At the very least, this kind of foot-dragging will hardly win the hearts and minds of those in other countries who know the US via the local reputations of US companies that don't see the local population as stakeholders. How do we shift the culture to thinking in long-range terms? Maybe the pushback by other countries will force a shift?

This article describes a recent update in the long standing battle with Chevron and the Ecuadorian State. Texaco, dumped a devastating amount of pollution into the Amazon basin between the 1960s and 1990s. The results of this pollution ranged from unheard of cancers among the local population and complete ruin of the natural resources that indigenous people relied on. Texaco/Chevron has fought against the accusations and have not apologized for their actions. There is a really good documentary available about this subject called Crude if anyone is interested.

Large-scale study that demonstrates that indigenous Amazonian villagers can record professional level scientific data: "After all the data verification was done, the researchers found that on average, the indigenous technicians were every bit as able to systematically record accurate data as trained scientists.  They were also probably better than scientists at detecting animals and their signs." It's amazing what possibilities exist when you change your framework of "how things are" and explore alternatives....what if professionals and the laity had been working together for the last 100 years on recording environmental data? [info on link from hsci grad student James Burnes]

For those of you interested in ecological preservation.

another instance where contaminating the water with toxic waste is a culprit. It's rather remarkable that we've done so much intensive mining and agriculture and industrial animal raising (CAFOs) and somehow never stopped to worry too much about what happens when we pollute the water (groundwater, rivers, lakes, the ocean....) Just getting a grip on this kind of pollution would seem to me to go a long ways toward rectifying bad practices in a number of areas simultaneously.