Peruvian Achuar Tribe Members Visit Canada To Survey Oil Operations: "This Used To Be A Forest?"

[hatrack]

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“This used to be a forest?” Mr. Achui asked. The region now resembles the Sahara – fine sand left behind by evaporated tailings ponds stretching into a treeless horizon. “Where are all the birds?” asked Mr. Miik, genuinely bewildered.

Mr. Deranger explained that the cannons they heard every few seconds were designed to scare birds off, to prevent them landing in the oily ponds that settled like mirages between the dunes.

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The Achuar were no more heartened by seeing Fort McKay, their final stop before their return to Calgary for the Talisman meeting. Mr. Deranger had a friend there named Cecilia Fitzpatrick, the granddaughter of the chief who signed over the band's land with a treaty in 1899. “The government initially put us on the other side of the river,” Ms. Fitzpatrick told the Achuar, gesturing across the Athabasca from her porch. “But it's bog land over there, totally uninhabitable, so we moved here. Our people lived here as squatters for the early years, until the government gave in.”

She offered the group some bottled water, apologizing that the tap water was undrinkable. “There are 22 companies operating all around us,” she went on. The local leadership kept making concessions, while the companies provided annual payments to every resident. “But we'll probably have to move again soon, since the only land we have left to sell is right below our houses.”

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-age-of-extreme-oil-this-used-to-be-a-forest/article2437730/page4/

[annabanana]

1. heartbreaking, soul searing

and so very very wrong in a world where we can get energy from the sun and wind.

[freshwest]

2. +1,000

[GliderGuider]

3. The Achuar are behind the formation of the Pachamama Alliance

http://www.pachamama.org/about/origin-story

The Achuar: Visionary Warriors of the Amazon

Deep in the Amazon rainforest, spanning the borders of modern-day Ecuador and Peru, the Achuar people have lived and thrived for centuries.

Traditionally warriors with a fierce devotion to their land, they kept their sophisticated culture and worldview remarkably intact as late as the mid-20th century.

In Achuar culture, dreams are a guiding principle of life, shared each morning before sunrise. Shamans play an important role in the spiritual life of Achuar communities, including the interpretation of dreams.

But not all dreams are sweet. Dreams can often require facing and transforming that which you most fear.

The Nightmare of Oil Development

Since the early 20th century, individuals and corporations from the so-called “modern” world have sought to exploit Achuar land for its oil, disregarding its irreplaceable ecological and cultural wealth.

By the early 1990s, Achuar shamans and elders were having dreams of an imminent threat to their land and traditional way of life.

From contact with neighboring tribes, the Achuar knew that oil companies were poisoning the rainforest and everything alive in it, steadily moving closer and closer to their home.

The Eagle and the Condor

The Achuar were also influenced by their understanding of an ancient prophecy about the Eagle and the Condor, shared by many Andean and Amazonian indigenous cultures.

According to this prophecy, we are at a moment in history when the Eagle – representing intellect and the mind – and the Condor – representing wisdom and the heart – must come together to ensure the continued existence of humankind.

An Invitation to Allies in the Modern World

Emboldened by this prophecy and their warrior history, the Achuar made the courageous decision to reach out to the modern world that was threatening their very existence.

In 1995, a group of people, including John Perkins, and Bill and Lynne Twist, traveled to the rainforest at the invitation of Achuar leaders to learn more.

The Achuar shared with this group the urgent threat to their lands and culture, their vision for self-determination, and a request for allies from the North who would “change the dream of the modern world” – shift our culture of overconsumption to a culture that honors and sustains life.

This group committed to a partnership with the Achuar, and, upon their return to the United States, Bill and Lynne Twist co-founded The Pachamama Alliance to carry out their commitment.

[felix_numinous]

4. Dirty energy sources make the 1% filthy rich

while only giving short-term energy benefits to the rest of us and destroying the Earth....It has to stop. This is why they CANNOT STOP THEMSELVES, they make fortunes on these deals. It is up to us.