Destroying the Rainforest, devastating the climate, deadly for indigenous peoples. Join the movement at http://amazonwatch.org/endamazoncrude.
[Originally posted on the Eye on the Amazon.]
Yesterday Amazon Watch issued a new call to the consumers and companies in the U.S. and around the world: End Amazon Crude! With the release of a new investigative report, an animated video by long-time ally and Pulitzer Prize winning animator Mark Fiore, an infographic, and a petition to demand that refineries in the U.S. stop sourcing crude from the rainforest, our new campaign to End Amazon Crude kicks off with a bang, and we want you to join us in this important call to action.
As you may know, multinational corporations and governments have long sought to exploit the Amazon for its resources. The devastating effects of oil drilling in the Amazon are painfully obvious due to the drill and dump practices of Chevron (then Texaco) and Occidental Petroleum we've so often reported. Nonetheless, even today many governments and companies are still drilling in the Amazon despite its devastating impacts on the indigenous communities who live there and its many negative effects on our climate.
In fact, the Amazon is the worst place on Earth to drill for oil. Drilling Amazon crude has a triple carbon impact, due to the burning of the oil, the emissions released when cutting down the rainforest, and the destruction of the world's largest carbon sink. The Amazon regulates global weather, contains one-fifth of the world's flowing fresh water, and produces one-fifth of our oxygen. It's home to over 400 distinct indigenous peoples, and the world's most biodiverse rainforest.
As you know, we have stood with indigenous communities across the Amazon for decades as they've opposed any new oil drilling on their lands. Throughout the years we have helped them achieve powerful victories and helped kick out company after company to protect indigenous territories. Now it is time to cut off the demand for this deadly fuel.
As climate science now clearly explains, we need to keep 80% of fossil fuels in the ground in order to have a good chance of averting catastrophic climate change. So it makes no sense at all to go looking for new reserves anywhere, let alone in an area as environmentally important as the Amazon.
The fossil fuel age is ending and it's imperative that the movement to keep the oil in the ground starts in the Amazon. Together we will End Amazon Crude. Please watch and share our video, take the pledge and spread the word. The time is now to grow the movement.
