“In the United States we used to say, ‘How much pollution can we clean up?” and now what we ask ourselves is, “how much pollution do we need to clean up for things to be safe for human health, and so the public may tend to think, “Oh, if you see something in the environment it must mean that it’s very bad.” When in fact people are exposed to hydrocarbons on a daily basis. The asphalt that is on our roads outside the window here are made from hydrocarbons, and made from crude oil, the gasoline we put in our tank. People encounter hydrocarbons on a daily basis that doesn’t mean those hydrocarbons are going to make you sick, and I note that‘s very difficult to explain because of the science behind it, but there is very proven science behind human health risk assessment approved by the US EPA and that what Chevron’s been doing to try to access whether these health allegations are true or not.” – Sara McMillan, Chevron chief environmental scientist after analyzing the damage to the rainforest in Ecuador in the aftermath of Chevron leaving Ecuador
http://www.cofan.org/
Trudie Styler, film producer & wife of the musician Sting by Antonio Olmos |
“Men, women, and children of the Cofán people I come from England and on behalf of my country, and my foundation and my husband I greet you all most humbly. You are our teachers. Your connection to the most precious resource that we have: the rain forest of the world, which we call the Lungs of the Earth; we have learned that you have much important knowledge that must not be destroyed. When you lose your way, when you lose your rights to be able to fish, to hunt and to uphold the rituals that your ancestors passed down to you then we all lose our way. I want you all to know that I stand in solidarity with you and that I will take your message back to my country and back to the United States of America because I considerate it our fight as well.”– Trude Styler, co-founder Rainforest Foundation Fund & wife of Sting speaking to the Cofán people in Ecuador in 2009 who are fighting Texaco for compensation and land restoration after destroying their lands, and displacing them to extract oil from their jungles.
http://www.cofan.org/
Cofán children |
And when we no longer walk the circle of lifemaybe other life will still feed on our skeleton remainsand know that in our strugglethose tears that we dropped into the oceansand those echoes we left on the mountainsand those footprints that fade on the pathssomeone has acknowledged our creationand thanked us for still following our ways.The traditional ways,the spiritual ways,the earth ways,the ways our ancestorsin humility and gratefulnesssought to honor the sacredness of theEarth Motherfor it is She who gives birthand it is her breasts which give us lifeand we are taking care of her,because we care.
From "The Earth Way" by ssipsis, Penobscot Elder
No comments:
Post a Comment