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All, Environment, Environmental Justice, Nature, Policy, Protection, Water

Indigenous women in Ecuador & allies march to defend the Amazon & protest environmental & cultural genocide

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PUYO, Ecuador, March 9, 2016 – In recognition of International Women’s Day, Indigenous Amazonian women leaders of seven nationalities including: Andoa, Achuar, Kichwa, Shuar, Shiwiar, Sapara and Waorani nationalities and their international allies took action in Puyo, Ecuador, in a forum and march in defense of the Amazon, Mother Earth and for climate justice. Specifically, they came together to denounce a newly signed oil contract between the Ecuadorian government and Chinese oil corporation Andes Petroleum.

Indigenous woman of the Amazon with megaphone
Source: Mike Riech/Pachamama Alliance

By plane, foot, canoe, and bus, some five hundred women mobilized from deep in their rainforest territories and nearby provinces marching through the streets of the Amazon jungle town of Puyo.

Chanting, “Defend the forest, don’t sell it!” and carrying signs reading “No more persecution against women defenders of Mother Earth,” the march culminated in a rally in which each nationality denounced the new oil threat and shared traditional songs and ceremonies. The women spoke of other methods for protecting and defending the Amazon and its vital living systems, making it known that the women of the Amazon are not just victims of environmental and cultural genocide, but rather are vital solution bearers.

In addition to highlighting the grave social and ecologic implications of this new contract and the Ecuadorian government’s plans to tender several more oil blocks in the pristine, roadless southern Amazon, the women and allies brought light to their struggles and the ongoing criminalization faced as they stand to protect and defend their territories and lifeways based upon living in harmony with the natural world. A tribute was held in honor of Berta Caceres, the Honduran indigenous environmental leader who was killed last week for her years of work defending rights and territories from privatization, plantations, and most recently, a mega dam project.

The women of the Amazon were also joined by Casey Camp Horinek, WECAN delegation member and Indigenous leader of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma, who shared her traditional songs and stories of how her people have been impacted by fracking activity.

Indigenous women of the Amazon-2
Source: Mike Riech/Pachamama Alliance

“Right now the oil company is trying to enter our territory. That is our homeland, this is where we have our chakras (gardens), where we feed our families. We are warriors, and we are not afraid. We will never negotiate,” explained Rosalia Ruiz, a Sapara leader from the community of Torimbo, which is inside the Block 83 oil concession.

“Although we are from three different provinces, we are one territory and one voice,” Alicia Cahuiya, Waorani leader declared.

As the march unfolded, the Ecuadorian government and Andes Petroleum held a meeting in the nearby town of Shell to organize an illegal entry into Sapara territory, knowing that key leaders would not be present. Outraged, a delegation of Sapara delivered a letter to the meeting, underscoring their peoples’ opposition to the oil project and governments tactics to divide the community. They successfully thwarted the government and company plans, and returned to the streets, victorious.

International allies including the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, Amazon Watch and Pachamama Alliance shared messages of solidarity and calls for immediate action to keep fossil fuels in the ground in the Amazon.

“On this International Women’s Day we are reaching across borders and standing together as global women for climate justice to denounce oil extraction in the Amazon and call for attention to the struggles and solutions of local women land defenders,” explained Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, “We all depend on the flourishing of these precious rainforests, the lungs of the planet. Now is the time to keep the oil in the ground and stand with the women who have been putting their bodies on the line for years to protect the forest, their cultures, and the health and well being of all future generations.”

“Today was a historic day for indigenous Amazonian women! It was the first time that hundreds of women and their allies marched for the Amazon, Mother Earth and Climate Justice. And the power of women was so strong that plans for oil companies entering Sápara territory today were halted. This is is a signal that the collective call to defend rights and territories by keeping fossil fuels in the ground is working,” says Leila Salazar-López, Executive Director of Amazon Watch.

Indigenous woman of the Amazon with banner
Source: Mike Riech/Pachamama Alliance

Belen Paez from Pachamama Alliance declared: “It’s a unique and historical moment to have the experience of solidarity and connection between indigenous women and activists from all over the world standing up for the rights of the Amazon rainforest and its people, we have all been waiting for this moment for so long, and that moment is now.”

The March 8 forum, action and press conference will be followed by a March 9 event and report back, ‘Women of Ecuadorian Amazon and International Allies Stand For Protection of the Amazon Rainforest’ to be held on March 9 at 17:00 at the Biblioteca FLASCO, Universidad FLACSO, Quito.

A solidarity action was also held at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, CA, to denounce the new oil contracts on Sapara and Kichwa territory and support women’s rights in Ecuador and around the world.

Abuse of public trust, Help, Justice, Nature, Protection, Water

Assembly Dems act to protect NJ from pipeline tragedy like Montana’s

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McKeon & Jasey
Assemblywoman Mila Jasey and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex/Morris) reiterated their opposition to the proposal for the Pilgrim Pipeline, a 178-mile oil pipeline that would cross 30 New Jersey municipalities, after a Montana pipeline breached on Saturday January 17 2015, spilling up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil, some of which seeped into the Yellowstone River and has contaminated the local water supply. They fear that the Albany, NY to Linden, NJ Pilgrim Oil Pipelines could cause a similar disaster in New Jersey.

No Pilgrim Pipeline

“Presumably, Bridger Pipeline told the people of Montana that this catastrophe was utterly impossible – just like Pilgrim Pipeline has tried to placate us with claims that advanced technology makes pipelines safe – but the Montana residents whose tap water smells and tastes like oil unfortunately now know all too well the very real threat an oil pipeline is to land, water and the public’s health and safety,” said Jasey. “Safe drinking water is a fundamental human need, and particularly in light of this – the most recent of far too many examples – we will continue to do everything possible to ensure that New Jersey never faces a similar disaster.”

Jasey noted that constituents have expressed their disapproval of the Pilgrim Pipeline proposal at numerous community meetings. The legislators plan to hold more public forums to hear the concerns of local residents.

“The Pilgrim Pipeline project simply is not right for New Jersey, and our residents have made their stance against it absolutely clear. In addition to denouncing the potential for the Pilgrim Pipeline to contaminate the Highlands, which supply drinking water for two-thirds of New Jersey’s residents, they reject exposing the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, home to numerous plants and animals, to one of the most flammable fuels in the world,” said McKeon. “The oil spill in Montana is a tragic manifestation of every fear New Jersey families and environmental advocates have about the Pilgrim Pipeline proposal. Our first priority is always protecting the people and natural beauty of New Jersey, and as such, we will remain steadfast in fighting against this plan.”

Jasey and McKeon are sponsors of a bipartisan resolution to oppose the Pilgrim Pipeline project (AR-191). The measure in December gained Assembly approval.

All, Energy, Environment, Nature, Protection

Keystone XL will NOT reduce foreign oil imports or help US

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KXL Action
Some Americans believe corrupt politicians who have spent taxpayer money trying ~40 times to cancel the healthcare services were put in place by Obama for people who really need them. The same people probably believe that the Keystone XL (KXL aka Tar Sands) Pipeline will benefit us.

The Washington Post Fact Checker gave 3 Pinocchio rating to the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline promoter’s ad claiming benefits it won’t produce, saying “We wavered between Two and Three Pinocchios. But ultimately we decided that given this is an ad for a pipeline to import Canadian crude oil into the United States, it’s really worthy of a late-night satire.” The Wapo’s researcher learned that the Keystone XL Pipeline

…will NOT reduce foreign oil dependence or even Middle East oil dependence:

Okay, but viewers of the ad might be forgiven if they did not realize this fact: The United States currently imports more oil from Canada than it does from the entire Persian Gulf, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Moreover, oil from the tar sands of Canada is expected to replace crude from Venezuela (which one could argue is not a friendly country) or Mexico. The Middle East is really not part of the equation.

and it will not reduce oil prices!

“The price of international oil prices has no impact on the operation of our pipeline and we do not profit from changing market changes,” TransCanada says in a fact sheet. “Prices are set on a global level.” In other words, if oil prices spike because of unrest in the Middle East, the impact will still be felt in the United States.

After being refined, pipeline oil will probably not even stay in America. According to the Wall Street Journal:

Much of the crude oil that would flow down the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline would likely be exported as refined products by U.S. companies—a prospect that is stirring further debate over whether the project serves the nation’s best interest.

The pipeline won’t create 40,000 construction jobs as claimed, since most of those jobs will be temporary and won’t even run a full year. According to the State Department, the number of construction jobs created will be 3900. The rest of the 36,100 jobs the KXL marketers want to claim credit for is the benefit which will supposedly disperse all across the United States when 3900 construction workers spend the money they make until their temporary construction jobs end.

In other words, you have to assume that money spent in Nebraska eventually helps a bartender in New York or a dancer in San Francisco

TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard explains this reckoning:

“We track the jobs associated with our project in the same fashion that the U.S. Department of Labor does and believe that every job – whether it is temporary or full-time – is important for the workers and communities involved.”