Demand justice for the Ecuadorian Amazon
The denizens of the Ecuadorian Amazon are suing multinational oil monger Chevron for its environmental destruction via the dumping of over 18 billions of gallons of poison in the rainforest. The people of the Ecuadorian Amazon want this scummy corporation to pay USD 27 billion for the damage and clean up their land. This would be the largest environmental lawsuit ever.
(Note: Can you even begin to imagine what billions of gallons of poisonous waste looks like? I can’t. Imagine the magnitude of the destruction!)
Chevron will inevitably burn in hell
In response, magnanimous Chevron Corporation is trying to cheat its way out of taking responsibility for its crap. (And I am just shocked. Shocked, I tell you!) The corporation said the report measuring the extent of the harm it caused to the Ecuadorian Amazon is invalid “because the court-appointed author owns a cleanup company and didn’t disclose his conflict of interest,” Bloomberg reported on February 9:
… Richard Cabrera is the majority owner of an oilfield remediation company registered to perform work for Ecuador’s state-owned oil company, PetroEcuador. Cabrera failed to disclose the business ties and the company stands to gain financially if an Ecuadorean court finds Chevron liable in a lawsuit over pollution from oil drilling in the Amazon …
Oh, yeah, that’s why 30,000 Ecuadorian Amazon natives want their land cleaned up.
Sign a petition and other ways to help
If you’re as outraged as I am, go ahead and sign this petition by Avaaz to side with the inhabitants of the Ecuadorian Amazon and pressure the sleazy oil corporation to get its act together and clean up the rainforest. (You know, as much as it is possible undo the effects of 18 billion gallons of poison, which has already been taking its toll on one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet and tens of thousands of Ecuadorians.)
Let Chevron’s new CEO John Watson know that his company is making an asshole of itself for not only screwing over this community and ecosystem in the Ecuadorian Amazon, but also for attempting to do it again. The petition also requests that the corporation “adopt new policies worldwide to prevent similar tragedies in the future.”
Another way to help this cause and myriad others is to make a donation to Avaaz. Just think: Even donating the equivalent of a couple of lattes a month – what? $5? – can add up to help Avaaz keep going. (Hey, not that I’m encouraging you to be stingy! I’m just making the point that you don’t have to empty your bank account to help a worthy cause. And no, these are not affiliate links! That would just be dirty.)
An additional way to show your support for clean-up efforts in the Ecuadorian Amazon is to check out filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s film Crude, which explores the lawsuit in question. The documentary will be released on DVD on February 23. Sweet.
Spread love – to the Ecuadorian Amazon and beyond!
