the greatest of all the evils

I do feel a bit naive in not knowing about this before. After watching a movie that mentioned something about it, I decided to investigate and was saddened by what I found.

Before I go much further, I can sum up this post in a few words: pick any other gas station then Chevron.

Texaco, currently owned by Chevron Corporation (CVX), began prospecting for oil in Ecuador in 1964, becoming the first company to discover commercial quantities. Subsequently, Texaco’s joint venture with Petroecuador, in which the U.S. company was an operating partner, set the standards for operations in the region. According to the 1993 report “Crudo Amazónico” (Amazon Crude) by the environmental lawyer Judith Kimerling, from 1972 until it left Ecuador in 1992, Texaco intentionally dumped more than 19 billion gallons of toxic wastewaters into the region and was responsible for 16.8 million gallons of crude oil spilling from the main pipeline into the forest. By comparison, the infamous Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in 1989 spilled 10.8 million gallons off the coast of Alaska. The report alleges that these actions contaminated both the soil and the groundwater of the communities in the area and will continue to threaten the economic and cultural bases of Indigenous peoples’ survival.

There have been many class action lawsuits against Chevron. Despite being the bigger, parent company, they are manipulating the system by laying blame into the Ecuadorian partner company and demanding that they pay for the clean up.

You can read more at Amnesty International: Chevron in Ecuador.

The public believes that the Exxon Valdez spill was the largest of all time. Well, this company dumped 6 million gallons more into the environment. Just to give you perspective, if the Exxon Valdez spill happened off the east coast it would stretch from Maine to Florida. And here is a video that shows how difficult clean-up is:

we hold these truths to be self evident

I was going to post about this a few days ago, but I am happy I was delayed.

I heard that Ecuador was going to hold a vote garnering equal and legal rights to nature. Yep. You read that correctly. I am happy I was delayed because now I can tell you the happy news…. IT PASSED!!

You can read an article about it HERE.

Here is an excerpt:
Nature … where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain, and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions, and its processes in evolution. Every person, people, community, or nationality will be able to demand the recognition of rights for nature before the public bodies.

I think this is a bold move of forward thinking.