Save Eco Destinations

As we saw in part three of the Peruvian Amazon Interoceanic Highway posts, which also discusses illegal gold mining, Peru’s rainforests are being cut down and the environment and human and nonhuman animals poisoned due to unregulated gold mining.

(Note: Let’s keep in mind that lawful gold mining is destructive as well.)

In the aforementioned post, Peru’s Environment Minister Antonio Brack said that the national government is looking to ban illegal fold mining.

But with such an extensive reach, how can illegal mining be stopped (never mind legal mining)?

We’d need some United States-style, Big Brother-type technology here.

Environmental activist Enrique Ortiz says that a Peruvian mining town near Huaypetue has quadrupled in size in the past six months alone.

“It’s just a cancer that is spreading all around, and with the prices going up of gold, predictions are not so good,” he says.

At the very least, the government would need to send a ton of guards to the Peruvian border with Bolivia and Brazil to span and monitor the entire area.

*Ahem* These guards should ideally not greet bribing attempts with a thumbs up *Ahem*

Brack didn’t even offer information on how the Peruvian government plans to finance the project. I’m not surprised – it’s not as though Peru is known for its wealth, and the region in question is about as large as Belgium (small on a map, yes, but try walking it!).

Gold mining in the Peruvian border with Bolivia and Brazil produced 10% of Peru’s 180 tons of gold output worth USD 5.6 billion in exports in 2008. The country is the fifth-biggest gold producer worldwide, and gold exports constitute its second largest source of revenue.

The Bloomberg article reporters can actually be reached at their respective email addresses here if you have any questions or comments for them.

Let’s boycott!

Hey, how about we do a little bit by boycotting gold? Let’s find out which corporations mining and selling unrenewable natural resources to us – not Peruvians living in extreme poverty and who are desperate for better opportunities – and declare war by boycotting and talking trash about them.

Spreading the word helps, looking for petitions to sign, letters to write, and so on. Whatever you can do!

Here are some disgusting corporations and companies exploiting poor nations’ natural resources and polluting them with cyanide and other poisons:

• Canada-based Manhattan Minerals Corporation, which has also mined gold in Mexico
• Newmont stretches its gold mining operations across five continents and touts itself as the largest gold producer in the world. Good job, guys! Keep on being greedy asshats
• The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group
• Venezuelan mining company Buenaventura
• Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières
• Boycott Green Karat says it’s an “eco” company because its rings are made of recycled gold. Well, honey, don’t you think that still encourages gold mining? “Ecologically responsible” my ass.
• Chinalco mines copper in Peru and ships it back to China

Gold mining pollution. Yummy. - Getty Images

Rio Huaypetue gold mine - and rampant deforestation - in southeastern Peru - photo by Mangobay.com

Illegal gold mining is a multi-pronged mess, spawning social, environmental, and economic unrest. As mentioned in part two of the Peruvian Amazon Interoceanic Highway posts, Peru sees its fair share of this problem.

The easier it gets to travel to the lowlands, the easier it gets for highlanders to venture down to take on whatever work they can – even if they must destroy their own land in the process – to seek a better living.

Natl Govt looks to ban illegal mining

Environment Minister Antonio Brack said last month that the government will seek to ban unregulated mining for gold in the country’s southeastern rainforest, reports Bloomberg.

Mining operations require cutting down stretches of rainforest. Further, unregulated gold mining pollutes 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of the Amazon River basin, he said, in the Madre de Dios (Mother of God) region.

The Ministry is thus looking to reach an agreement with national and regional governments to stop the environmental destruction.

“Informal mining, which doesn’t meet minimal environmental standards, is the country’s biggest social and ecological problem,” Brack said.

“These operations, which are spreading across the Andes and the Amazon, have an enormous impact on biodiversity and native communities.”

Unregulated gold miners live in extreme poverty

Mercury and the environment

Mercury is used to separate gold ore from rock in the refining process.

Alluvial mining, or dredging for gold along river banks, is the norm in these lowlands. It is extensively harmful to the environment and is deadly for human and nonhuman animals alike.

About 32 tons of mercury are dumped into the rainforest’s rivers annually by miners. The pollution has a reach of 500 km. (300 mi.) – all the way into Brazil.

Read about the terrible effects of these gold mining poisons on local communities.

Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon - photo by Rhett A. Butler

While the new highway being constructed between Brazil and Peru’s Pacific coast is bringing prosperity and job opportunities to impoverished locals, many are emphasizing the detrimental social, environmental, and economic effects.

Previously tranquil isolated towns like Quincemil in Peru are now seeing burgeoning activity – along with violence and other consequences.

Prostitution and violence

“The price of everything has gone up. It’s because there are lots of new men living nearby and working on the road. I am very worried. With all these unknown people that have arrived, there has been violence, men who are drunk, prostitution,” said Rocio Ramirez, the owner of a small store in the town of Quincemil.

“… I don’t like what is happening here. We’ve seen a lot of young girls who’ve gotten pregnant, and we hear that there are a lot of sexual diseases being passed around,” she says.

Given that the town is isolated and the people impoverished, there is no way that health clinics (if any exist) would provide locals with reproductive or sexual education. Hence, the prostitutes are becoming pregnant and infected with STIs. This does not deserve to be taken lightly.

Of course, many of the women who turn to that way of life do it out of desperation and a lack of better options. In this case, their situation points to these women’s inability to access condoms or other barrier methods. And the main victims here are the women and their future children, not the men who seek them out or the corporations making money off the construction and consequent destruction of the Amazon and its natives.

Environmental destruction

Biologist Pedro Sentero says that Peruvians from the highlands have moved to more fertile lowlands to cut down trees and make room for farming. Some people opt for illegal gold mining instead. He said the new highway could make these migrations and the resulting environmental destruction rocket.

Although sustainable harvesting of Brazil nuts allows for an income without sacrificing the rainforest, some growers eschew it because it doesn’t provide them with enough money.

Amazon Conservation Association President Adrian Forsyth says this rainforest hosts 1,005 species of birds, 13 types of monkeys, and 120 species of bats.

“If we destroy the biological heritage of the Andes and the Amazon basin, we are impoverishing Peruvians, Brazilians and, indeed, the entire world,” says Bruce Babbitt, chairman of the World Wildlife Fund in the U.S.

"Welcome to the Interoceanic Highway South. Sao Paolo, Brazil 4601 kilometers." Photo by NPR

The Brazilian Government is investing part of the financing for a highway construction leading from its Atlantic coast through Peru’s Pacific coast. The last portion is being built in Peru as you read this.

The project will bring new jobs, merchandise, and other financial advantages to the national economy and Peruvians living in isolated Andean villages – as well as environmental destruction in one of the most untraveled and biodiverse rainforests on Earth, the Peruvian Amazon.

Brazil’s dream is “to finally reach the dream of three centuries, which is that even if there is not a Brazilian flag, at least there will be a Brazilian economy on the shores of the Pacific,” said Bruce Babbitt, current chairman of the World Wildlife Fund in the U.S. and former secretary of the interior during the Clinton Administration.

But…

The Peruvian Government, of course, is happy about the opportunities the highway will bring to its people and economy as well.

These developments are also enabling the increase of prostitution, unplanned pregnancies, and venereal diseases taking place. Not to mention the growth of illegal gold mining, which Peruvians in need hope will provide them a higher income.

Thousands of workers live along the road are assembling the highway into the Andes. Apart from the Interoceanic Highway, two other roads traversing the Peruvian Amazon are being forced into the Andes, also with heavy machinery, day and night, thanks to the Brazilian engineering and construction giant Odebrecht.

On the other hand, new shops have already been springing up along the highway to service passersby. One was opened by a woman who lives in an Andean village with a population of 250. You can imagine how much people in these circumstances would need a new source of income.

The Peruvian Government considers the project essential to bring prosperity all around.

Additionally, some hope that ecotourism will grow as a result of facilitated access. But while Peru has favorable protection laws, they are not enforced.

So how do you choose?

Alas, nearsighted governmental authorities have opted not to look into alternative ways to help these people.

It seems like a no-brainer for Brazil when you consider the country’s impetus: easier access to the Pacific to escalate trade with Peru and China, the latter a major business partner. But how practical is transporting soy beans by truck across a staggering amount of miles before you can sell or ship them overseas?

Brazil also plans to invest in five massive dams in Peru, whose purpose will be to generate energy for the massive country.

The moral of the Brazilian Amazon

Since the highway began to construction in the 1970s, unbridled deforestation has been ravaging the Amazon. Isn’t this enough?

Picture by BioGems

Illegal logging is devastating the rainforest on the eastern side of the Peruvian Andes.

Companies are making their way there to chop down old-growth mahogany and other rare species of hardwood trees, profit from them, and leave the land and wildlife – an entire ecosystem – derelict. These asshat loggers also hunt monkeys, birds, and other animals.

The carbon dioxide released from the trees that get chopped down, of course, adds to global warming, or climate change (whichever term you’re most keen on).

After the companies ravage the land, nobody goes back to plant trees where they once used to be. Instead, the areas are taken over by settlers, road builders and farmers.

BioGems Defenders, an organization that works to protect threatened and endangered wildlife and wildlands in the Americas, is made up of networks of people like you (yes, you!) and me – activists. Over 500,000 people now comprise the organization, and contribute to different causes by sending out emails asking for justice. It’s pretty sweet: check out their victories. BioGems Defenders is part of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

In 2007, BioGems Defenders helped stop the illegal mahogany trade such that U.S. imports of mahogany from that region decreased tenfold in just a year.

In 2008, U.S. Congress passed legislation banning the import and sale of illegal wood into the country.

BioGems Defenders is now trying to pressure U.S. and Peruvian authorities to eradicate the illegal wood trade altogether.

Please take action here.

Peruvian Amazon - photo by Save Bio Gems

The struggle of the amazonicos is no longer to free their land – they now must also fight mining, oil and gas giants such as Texaco (now owned by Chevron) who are polluting the mountains, rivers, and rainforests through deforestation, the dumping of toxic waste, and other noxious tactics.

The contamination is causing the death of fish, birds, and other wildlife, as well as people, such that they cannot sustain themselves. Natives are dying of cancer due to the carcinogens being dumped into the ecosystem.

Natives are consequently working to block out the multinational corporations guilty of this ecocide – and classism – and defended by the government for over three decades.

Pablo Fajardo, lead attorney for the indigenous people suing Texaco, had this to say:

“More than a billion gallons of poisonous toxic water were dumped into marshes and rivers of this area. What the people demand is the complete remediation of the area Texaco contaminated.”

The agro-chemicals used by agricultural industries that grow food to export to the U.S. devastate the soil and, of course, do not contribute to local communities. Eco-socialists and others believe a new agrarian reform is needed to combat these corporations.

Whether from the north or the south, 30,000 amazonicos have joined together despite different nationalities and dialects and even languages to organize peaceful struggle. Just last year, their efforts bred success.

The indigenous movement even succeeded against the armed opposition staged by the government last June:

Indigenous groups in Peru have called off protests after two controversial laws, decreed by President Alan García to implement a free trade agreement with the U.S., were revoked by the country’s Congress in an 82-12 vote late June 18.

The amazonicos or indigenas are laudably working to build power, not take it, through peaceful struggle. The fight is against global warming in addition to exploitation of the land and the communities, as workers are not unionized nor receive vacation or social security.

Filmmaker Joe Berlinger explains the struggle in his latest documentary film, “Crude.”

Closed off "Turtle nesting site" in the ruins of Tulum

This is a double post! (Are you excited? Woooo, you should be!)

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter. This is one of those times. Whether you consider yourself an eco expert or a newbie, skim this list in case there’s something new in there for you! And please feel free to add to it in the comments section.

• Stick to the rules that ask you to refrain from tresspassing into spots such as sea turtle nesting areas. The ruins in Tulum, for example, display a few signs with this message.
• Go ahead and pick up some trash and toss it in the garbage bin when other people have been inconsiderate. Help undo the harm with your kindness and compassion for life and the environment.
• Bring your own aluminum bottle to refill rather than wasting money and resource to buy and toss glass and plastic drinking bottles and cans (even if you can afterward recycle them, it’s better to reduce your use of resources to begin with :)). Why aluminum? Because plastic is toxic – and its carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, chemicals leech into water and food and enter your body (here is a plastic buying guide). Stay safe by recycling your water and nalgene bottles and switching to aluminum. Be sure to check whether the tap water in your area is safe to drink! The water in Tulum, for example, is not.
• Rent and ride a bike/walk/rollerblade/etc rather than drive when possible.
• Remain quiet in biodiversity areas – even the beach! And especially at night, when many animals venture out to nest, spawn, feed, and so on. Even whispering and small amounts of light have been found to disrupt the mating and normal behavior of wild birds and other animals.
• Do not feed birds, reptiles, and other wild animals.
• Be kind to the stray dogs that dot the areas where you’re spending your time – they’ve done nothing wrong. Consider buying them some food, at least giving them your leftovers, and setting out a bowl with water for them, particularly in hot weather. We all just want love and have the same basic needs, including food and water.
• Do not remove coral, rock, etc. when diving, snorkeling, and so on. Any removals can upset ecosystem balance – no matter how much you want that object as a souvenir!
• Support eco establishments and products!
• And speaking of eco products… remember that all toiletries and cleaners can be toxic (and usually are). For example, sodium laureth sulfate, which is in everything, has been found to cause cancer. Look it up here. Try switching to mindful brands for your body and the planet. Yes – they can be expensive. Cheap alternatives include using baking soda as shampoo and toothpaste, baking soda or cornstarch as deodorant, coconut oil to style your hair and as personal lubricant,honey or organic cold-pressed oils to cleanse your skin (this is excellent even for acne-prone skin), and so on. Find a deodorant recipe here plus more ideas here and here.

This planet is yours, mine, and everyone else’s – this includes non-human animals. It is not anyone’s to tras. It is our home. Let’s humbly bow and thank our Mother Earth for sustaining us, and offer our efforts to be sustainable in return. Join in the cycle of life, not destruction.

A natural bug repellent: Herbal Armor

Biodegradable skincare protects the environment – and you – from carcinogens e.g. parabens

Many tour companies will demand that you slather on biodegradable sunblock and bug repellent for diving into the ocean and cenotes, going kayaking, and so on. It would be fantastic to adopt this preference constantly, though. It’s the same as littering: shouldn’t we refrain from littering all the time rather than only when we are asked to?

First of all, regular sunscreens bleach corals, which are already dying off at an alarming rate due to several factors, this one included, and also global warming, irresponsible human activities, and other types of pollution. So any time you get in the water – even into a pool, as all water ends up in the ocean eventually and it is not treated for toxic chemicals, and even less in remote areas such as Tulum and Xcacel Xcacelito – you would be helping to take care of the environment by using only environmentally-friendly products.

Last, I will reiterate that regular sunblock contains carcinogenic ingredients – that is, they cause cancer. You would thus be doing yourself a favor as well by staying away from those products.

FYI: I found Hawaiian Tropic Biodegradable sunscreen in SPF 30 and 50 as well as a natural bug repellent in Tulum, on the road where myriad hotels are located on the coast. And you can, of course, find many such products online by conducting a simple Google search (such as this one). You can also search the Cosmetic Safety Database for details and products.

Check your cosmetics and ingredients here for safety.

I am writing this post in reference to the last one, in which I began talking about my eco vacation in Tulum. There, I stayed at a largely sustainable hotel that *gasp* did not provide guests with electricity in their rooms (although you did get hot and cold water and wifi was available).

Waking up to the waves in Tulum

Here are 3 reasons not to be scared of electricity-free establishments and vacations:

1) You awaken to the gentle rays of the sunrise – no jarring alarm clock, no missing the cooler hours of the day. Your day becomes longer and …

2) The night lures you to sleep earlier and more smoothly. I cannot even tell you how much earlier I went to sleep when all I had to give me light were a few candles. My insomnia vanished. It was fantastic. It felt organic and peaceful.

3) You practically have no choice but to actively spend more time performing quality activities such as spending time face-to-face with the people you came with (not watching TV or playing video games but actively interacting with each other), reading, living in the moment, feeling more connected to the flows and ebbs of nature, day, and nightfall. And even though I brought along a fully charged iPod, not once did I opt for mp3s over the relaxing swooshes of the ocean.

And the heat? Stay by the coast and the relentless breeze will soothe you. Especially if you’re naked. Try it.

The beach in Tulum, with a hotel or two off to the side

We first arrived at Cancun Airport, got stood up by the shuttle service we had already paid for, freaked out, threw an exhausting tantrum, had a couple of cocktails, and finally found a solution to our dilemma.

But on to the fun stuff.

I am sorry to inform that the only way to reach Tulum from Cancun is via the use of vehicles that run on gasoline, and there is no airport in Tulum (yet). The trip can take between 1.5 and 3+ hours, depending on much you choose to spend (about USD 30 for a 3+ hour ride with transfers or USD 100+ for a comfy drive with AC just 1.5 hrs long).

You can also rent a car – and maybe find a hybrid one! It’s worth finding out if that’s what you would rather do.

Riding a bike would take so long you’d probably collapse from the heat and dehydration before getting anywhere. If it gets unbearable just standing beneath the morning sun, imagine what it would be like riding a bike with luggage on your back and for hours on end. And it’s not like the road between Cancun and Tulum is picturesque either – it’s very green, but nothing to write home about.

On to the green, largely sustainable hotel -

We finally arrived at our eco hotel, which did not provide us with any electricity except a fan in our room during the day and wi-fi (you could charge your computer, just not in your room, as there are no outlets – but believe me when I say that spending the vast majority of my day away from the computer was 100% liberating and relaxing).

Note: I will tell you why the no-electricity factor is nothing to be apprehensive about in my next post.

A little of the romantic magic in Tulum

We had hot and cold water in our room (but we barely used the hot water at all!). We really did not need AC (it was summer there: late August) and must have used the fan once, if that. The ocean breeze was spectacular and all you really need to feel refreshed.

Okay – our hotel was on the coast. If you stay in the town of Tulum, which is 6 km. away from the beach, the breeze will be less potent. All the hotels I could see in the town advertised AC, cable, and so on. But why go there when you can take a break and detox from “civilization”?

Let me tell you: I can’t remember a time I’ve been so intensely relaxed for so many consecutive days.

Tulum is paradise for beach and nature lovers – and history + anthro buffs too, as Mayan ruins abound. And there are activities – plenty of them (more on that in a later post) – but I basically used most of my time sitting by the waves, staring at them for hours, and letting their beauty flow into me as the sound of the crashing waves cleansed me from the inside out.