We spent a week in April completely unplugged and in the wild jungles of Amazonian Ecuador in close contact with nature. Wake up calls were delivered by howler monkeys and lullabies sung by thunderstorms and frogs. Not once did I hear "Can I have your iPhone" or "I am bored". My 8year old stood in the Sun for 2 hours trying to catch a piranha (and let it go after that). With a pair of binoculars around her neck and claiming to be "birding" she was happy to just BE and so were we!
I remember telling my daughter that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and sadly i think that might very well be the case. Cruising down the Napo river you are suddenly stunned by the sight of natural gas burning - not trapped and shipped elsewhere, not stored, just burnt as it is the easiest thing to do when drilling for oil in the Amazons. Will these forests be around when my daughter turns 40 and wants to bring her kids down here to experience the wild? Sadly I am not so sure.
When we met the people of the Sani community who call these forests home we could see they were divided about the oil drilling. As a volunteer I have lent support to the struggle by the Adivasis of the Narmada Valley fighting for their way of life against big dams in India. I had always wanted to visit the valley but never did. Standing in the Sani village, i was struck by how similar the struggles were. Oil companies have built schools (with no regular teachers), hospitals (doctor doesn't stay there all the time and for emergencies you have to take a boat to Coca for 2 hours) and there is even Internet.
What right do I have to pass any moral judgement over Ecuadoreans if they decide to ride the oil ticket to get to economic success? I live in California one of the largest economies of the world. Just living in California makes my footprint huge despite being a vegan, going solar and driving a hybrid. The recent climate change report that came out brought dire news to the US, and we in California experienced wild fires like never before in a month when normally weather used to be described as "May Gray".
Not all is doom and gloom. We did love the pristine forests of Ecuador (eco-tourism is certainly doing its bit to help indigenous communities in many parts of the land achieve financial success without exploiting resources), and now that the fires have died down, we spent the last two weekends watching the endangered California Least Terns come to our hood to nest. The enthusiasm with which my daughter has taken to Ternwatching and doing her part to protect the terns can only give me hope about the future!
I remember telling my daughter that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and sadly i think that might very well be the case. Cruising down the Napo river you are suddenly stunned by the sight of natural gas burning - not trapped and shipped elsewhere, not stored, just burnt as it is the easiest thing to do when drilling for oil in the Amazons. Will these forests be around when my daughter turns 40 and wants to bring her kids down here to experience the wild? Sadly I am not so sure.
When we met the people of the Sani community who call these forests home we could see they were divided about the oil drilling. As a volunteer I have lent support to the struggle by the Adivasis of the Narmada Valley fighting for their way of life against big dams in India. I had always wanted to visit the valley but never did. Standing in the Sani village, i was struck by how similar the struggles were. Oil companies have built schools (with no regular teachers), hospitals (doctor doesn't stay there all the time and for emergencies you have to take a boat to Coca for 2 hours) and there is even Internet.
What right do I have to pass any moral judgement over Ecuadoreans if they decide to ride the oil ticket to get to economic success? I live in California one of the largest economies of the world. Just living in California makes my footprint huge despite being a vegan, going solar and driving a hybrid. The recent climate change report that came out brought dire news to the US, and we in California experienced wild fires like never before in a month when normally weather used to be described as "May Gray".
Not all is doom and gloom. We did love the pristine forests of Ecuador (eco-tourism is certainly doing its bit to help indigenous communities in many parts of the land achieve financial success without exploiting resources), and now that the fires have died down, we spent the last two weekends watching the endangered California Least Terns come to our hood to nest. The enthusiasm with which my daughter has taken to Ternwatching and doing her part to protect the terns can only give me hope about the future!
