Save Eco Destinations

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.”

(If you’re sick of the topic, just scroll to the bottom for the important stuff.)

Check it out: Not even the Argentine Minister of Health Juan Manzur (left) or President Cristina Kirchner (right) are wearing a mask.

Yes, again. This time because I am in South America, I am freezing my butt off, and the news keeps scaring the hell out of everybody regarding the damn H1N1 — or piggy flu, as I like to call it.

Did you know that those masks are counterproductive? They make the area of your nose and mouth more hospitable to viruses and bacteria by keeping it warm and moist. You’re definitely better off without one. They’re all sold out anyway because the mainstream media lies through their rotten teeth about what will help you prevent becoming a pandemic statistic. What a joke.

Did you know that at the international airport of Ezeiza  in Buenos Aires passengers getting off the planes are given masks to wear just for photojournalists to photograph? It’s disgusting.

Did you know that most people who contract H1N1 experience mild symptoms that go away on their own? Yes, I already told you that Tamiflu is a ripoff.

So scary!

Wait, wrong mammal.

Here we go:

So cute! Thanks for the photo, USDA.

Some eco love

So go ahead and go on your fun South American eco adventure – visit Iguazú, the Patagonia in Argentina/Chile (hey THIS looks pretty sweet and maybe THIS too), marvel at the beauty of Brazilians while gazing at the Atlantic from a mound of warm sand (or while doing one of these activities).

Hey, I wish these places paid me for the advertising. Pfft.

The-important-stuff-at-the-bottom

Here are some crucial and frightening facts that will benefit you if you choose to innoculate yourself in hopes of avoiding an H1N1 infection: Squalene: The Swine Flu Vaccine’s Dirty Little Secret Exposed.

Be safe — but not paranoid! I.E. Don’t watch mainstream news. Stay objective and inform yourself from several disparate sources.

Hoatzins

Tourists’ noise pollution doesn’t only harm endangered sea turtles—it also harms hoatzins. It’s to be expected, right? …Except this noise pollution comes from ecotourists.

Bird watching can have its perils, it seems, since even quiet conversation among bird watchers can cause extreme stress to some species of wild birds. Daniel Karp of Stanford University has researched three species of hoatzins (Opisthocomus hoazin) in areas surrounding various eco lodges within the Peruvian Amazon.

Even library conversation-volume chats induced defense mechanisms in the birds, causing them to cluck and defecate. Wow. The birds were found to climb and fly away as well. The hoatzins’ behavior was contingent on how loudly people spoke.

What’s most troublesome is the fact that stress disturbs these birds’ rearing capabilities, thwarting the chicks’ training to become self-sufficient and leading to “heightened mortality rates.”

To gather information, Karp approached hoatzin habitats by canoe and experimented between being silent and playing recordings of conversations at different volumes from different distances, keeping track of when birds became stressed enough to fly away. Karp first tried playing the conversations at 50 decibels (library conversation volume), then at 60 (actual volume of typical tourists’ chats in bird watching zones), and at 70 (the loudest conversations he was able to record). The study was conducted last year and lasted one month.

While Karp says “ceas[ing] all conversation” and staying far enough away should be sufficient to prevent freaking out hoatzins, behavioral ecologist and conservation biologist at UCLA Dam Blumstein says that, although we think being ecotourists is awesome, we’re being careless and irresponsible anyway.

Moral of the study: ecotourism is not as green as we may have thought.

No kidding. (Yes, I am bitter.)

Apparently, even when quietly hiking through undergrowth, [eco]tourists cause wildlife extreme stress. Bird watching, wildlife watching, and hiking are all harmful to carnivores’ survival and/or reproduction rates. The victims are dolphins, dingoes, penguins, and polar bears, among many other species.

Well, crap.

Not only should we keep from being destructive when in natural areas, but we should also not even go there.

Well, at least now I have evidence to back up my theory that ecotourism and eco hotels within fragile natural areas do more harm than good.

Let’s review.

Essentially, the “green cities movement” comprises loose groups of cities focused on becoming and remaining sustainable. Green cities, I joyfully report, are sprouting worldwide, albeit only in urban areas thus far.

Their point is, as I’m sure you’ve guessed already, to lessen their environmentally destructive impact. Green cities do this by reducing their waste, recycling it, and reusing materials. Their goals are lowering emissions and increasing housing density, green spaces, and sustainable local businesses.

Remember Gothenburg’s ecotopia?  Same concepts, although Gothenburg’s are more evolved.

Examples

Curitiba

I was surprised to learn that a typical green city is located in Brazil: Curitiba. This city went green back in the 1970s!

Curitiba has a high-tech bus system and has worked to increase population density around transit hubs, enabling other areas to become green, open land instead of stimulating urban sprawl.  I’m not sure why this city counts as green when it has such a long way to go, but if it’s the best Brazil’s got right now, I’ll take it. It’s got a lot more than many cities can boast, after all.

And remember Iceland? Reykjavik relies on geothermal and hydropower for heating and generating most of its electricity. This city has the largest geothermal heating system in the world. In fact, it was ranked 1^st in Grist Magazine’s “15 Greenest Cities” list. On the other hand, it’s got large scale urban sprawl and one of the highest worldwide per-capita ownerships. Public transport consists of an unpopular hydrogen-powered bus system.

Rekyjavik

We should note that Reykjavik plans to go fossil fuel-free by 2050, though. Cheers to that.

Other green cities include Sydney, Copenhagen, Portland, and Seattle. More on that coming up.

I’d never heard of something like this before-two countries, Italy and Switzerland, will have representatives meet to agree on new boundaries to divide their lands due to melted Alpine glaciers that used to mark the frontier between them, and are now gone.

Alpine glaciers melting

I suppose in the (I hope not too) near future we will be hearing more about this-between Argentina and Chile, perhaps the US and Canada, China, Russia, perhaps in Scandinavia (I need a map!).

This is really interesting. How would this affect tourism? What if certain nations decided to team up? Say one country had lots of wind turbines already set up, and the other did not, but was relying on solar power for a lot of its energy and had some to spare? These countries could team up and mutually benefit each other by sharing energy-and perhaps food and other amenities. Climbing temperatures could have unforeseen political consequences, perhaps great ones! Exciting.

Of course, there could also be wars (and probably there will be wars, the universe help us) over desperately coveted natural resources such as potable water (in particular!) and fertile soil. Well, we’d probably have these anyway, but I suspect border-related dilemmas could provide additional fuel to the debates.

And what about residents’ desires? In the Italy/Switzerland scenario, no communities are involved because the borders in question lie 4,000 meters above sea level, in deserted areas unfit for human habitation. I am reminded of the Falkland Islands–geographically and lawfully, they are part of Argentina. Politically, however, they are part of England. When in 1982 Argentina went to war to get the Falklands back (a desperate attempt by the dictator related to staying in power because he was losing control) a few things happened. First, Falkland residents protested against Argentina, saying they were English and wished to remain so. Second, the Argentine soldiers were so ill-equipped they lacked microwaves and such to heat their frozen food and they were inappropriately dressed for the violent cold of the far south. Third and last, in part because of the second point, the English kicked the Argentines’ ass. Argentina has no decent army. They recruited random young men to fight, inexperienced men, and many of them died in miserable conditions.

My point is, when politicians start getting involved in choosing new boundaries, I hope that, to avoid trouble, they seriously consider local residents’ opinions and desires regarding what nation they want to belong to. (I actually think nationality is absurd-you don’t choose where you are born, and you don’t know everyone you share a nation with-it’s an imagined community, an illusion.)

Parrots in the Amazon (photo by Orthopod1)

I am not a big fan of the World Bank, but maybe this time they’ve done something laudable: the bank has approved a $1.3 billion loan for the Brazilian government to spend on improving environmental management programs.

Given the environmental charge of the Amazon in the world (one-third of the planet’s tropical rainforests), this is good news! Maybe this effort will have a domino effect leading to less deforestation of the Brazilian rainforest. I’m hoping and hard, you better believe it.

The program focuses on forests, water conservation and energy efficiency. All aspects of the program will be involved in the climate change cause, e.g. deforestation leads to biodiversity loss and climate change, therefore, the program’s interests will include diminishing deforestation in Brazil.

Nice. After all, a better environmental management program really isn’t if ravaging deforestation isn’t dealt with! Honestly, I can’t help but be suspicious, even cynical at times. But Brazil does have a lot hanging on the Amazon, since it contains 60% of it, so their motivation lies there. Probably.

“This requires a commitment from all levels of government, whether federal, state or municipal, paying special attention to social programs, many of which include programs for sustainable growth,” said Guido Mantegna, Brazil’s Minister of Finance.

No sh*t. I mean, would we be that surprised if this money ended up being used on pseudo-green projects that would ultimately harm the environment? Anything’s possible with money, and if it were environmentalists who had it, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Plus, they had $488.6 million to spend on the environment and chose to fork it over to the military for “protection.”

To round it out a bit, here’s a related article you might be interested in: whether Obama should give Brazil $16 billion yearly to conserve the Amazon rainforests.

See you soon and don’t forget to add Save Eco Destinations on Twitter!

Flooding in Tartagal, Argentina

If you called in or emailed Argentine President Cristina Kirchner last week, you deserve an enthusiastic pat on the back: it worked!

Greenpeace reports that over 1,000 people harassed the government daily demanding the signed implementation of the Forest Law-and we got it. Things like this always make me smile, and wide.

Such efforts are crucial to fight deforestation and the resulting natural disasters such as the flooding in Tartagal, up in the northwestern province of Salta in Argentina, where thousands lost their homes to the violent infiltration of volumes of mud.

Deforestation is about destroying the fertility of soil, biodiversity, and leaving the soil useless to protect the land against intensive flooding (due to accelerated erosion) as it warps the natural regulation of river basins. Fighting it is, therefore, imperative to our planet-and our human and non-human community.

Meanwhile, Tartagal lays drowned in mud, with dead animals rotting in the streets, people missing, snakes everywhere, its waters polluted, and ravenous mosquitoes sucking the blood out of everyone in sight. As a bonus, people have to watch out for explosives in certain areas, as oil companies’ explosives were dragged out by the flood. Some explosives have fortunately been found and subsequently deactivated. Apparently, something as seemingly innocuous as a cell phone can trigger them.

The people in Tartagal are poor and humble, with nothing to spare and now nothing at all. The capitalist efforts to force oil out of the ground, tear down trees, and the ten million other atrocities they commit every second of every day make me want to puke.

Please take action however way you can to spread the word when you hear of something, and make your voice heard to demand change.

Always remember the wise Margaret Mead’s words: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Floods in Tartagal, 2009

In the northwest of Argentina lays a province called Salta, a popular tourist spot, whose trees corporations love to chop down. Salta comprises many rich ecosystems-well, fewer and fewer ecosystems these days.

Currently, the city of Tartagal has been experiencing very destructive floods-since at least 2006, actually! Watch a video here . Every year Argentina gets a rerun, and in other provinces too, e.g. Tucumán (see picture above).

The 2006 flood is evidence that the deforestation of this region’s Argentine forests is a direct cause of these dismal consequences. Now thousands of people have lost their homes because some greedy corporate businessmen have sold their souls to desecrate the planet and fill their fat pockets with crisp dollar bills.

It’s 2009, and still there’s been no progress. There is no firm policy against the massacre of Salta’s forests. See, last year, 1.5 million Argentines stood up and helped create the Forest Law-which hasn’t been put into practice by the government. It’s a shame that with a woman-a minority-president, things remain the same as before. But hey: greed knows no sex, race, class, sexual orientation, or anything else, right? Dough is dough, and when you’re vile enough to rig an election to win the presidency, people can’t expect much…

Please tell the Argentine Government what you think and demand they stop Salta’s deforestation – stop the Forest Law boycott!! or, if you can speak a little Spanish and can spare a couple of bucks, speak up! Call the Red Greenpeace Phone Line at 0011-5411-4000-5580 Mondays through Fridays from 7AM to 3PM EST and tell President Cristina Kirchner to get her ass in gear about the Forest Law.