Mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon is destroying land and communites.
** News of the world environment
------------------------------------------------------------
NEWSLETTER | AUGUST 11, 2023
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
** Divided by Gold
------------------------------------------------------------
YEAR 2020.
Soccer, beers, barbecue, shared sweat, teamwork. Laughter. Nine people with yellow rubber boots and machetes in their hands smile at the camera. Others, as if it were choreographed, weed a section of jungle with their bare hands to set up the field. In the background, a machine turns and cement covers the bricks that will support the construction of a communal house. The roof is made of zinc. Several men raise a wooden pole on which they install an electricity box. All the photographs speak of the joy of shared labor and community.
“Those were our social events, which took place before the Chinese company poisoned the conscience of some residents,” says Patricio Villamil three years later while sending photos through WhatsApp. Villamil is the president of the community of Shiguacocha, a village of 50 families in the rural area of the Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola canton in the province of Napo in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
The company, Terraearth Resources, specializes in gold mining and has a 4,077-acre, small-scale mining concession in the region. Mineral extraction in Napo began more than 25 years ago. But between 2015 and 2023 it expanded by 300 percent.
“If we look back, the first mining companies came to settle in rural areas inhabited by Indigenous communities that did not know what they were coming to do and, in addition, had no education. Some of them did not even speak Spanish,” says Andres Rojas, Ombudsman of Napo.
“The companies arrived offering work, favors, and money. They made the elders put their fingerprints on permits, documents, and contracts, or they bought the land from them at ridiculous prices. The people began to divide between those who benefited from the newly arrived companies and those who witnessed the painful destruction of their land, their water, their habitat.”
This feature is the first of a three-part series (translated from Spanish) by journalist Gabriela Verdezoto Landívar that investigates and offers different points of view on gold mining in the Ecuadorian Amazon’s Napo province, where mining grew 907 percent between 2011 and 2021.
READ MORE ([link removed])
Photo of Napo River by Alexander Schimmeck ([link removed])
SUGGESTED BROWSING ()
** Extinction. Grief. Love. ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
“How are we to survive without our companion species on Planet Earth? We are not above them or below them — but side by side — fellow creatures caught in a web of uncertainty in this era of the Anthropocene.” Terry Tempest William reflects on the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. (Nautilus ([link removed]) )
** This Nut Travelled ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
They started off as a crop in the Andes some 10,000 years ago. Somewhere along the line, as they traveled across nations and continents, they began to be boiled. Today, the tale of the boiled peanut is a global love story that transcends space and time. (Bitter Southerner ([link removed]) )
** On Missing Animals ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
“Anyone who develops deep knowledge of other species by living alongside them for years realizes something both obvious and essential: We are not the only lives that matter.” But how many of us are really listening? (Emergence ([link removed]) )
** Healing Stories ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Three years ago, an explosion of improperly stored ammonium nitrate, commonly used in fertilizers and for mining munitions, killed hundreds and injured thousands in Beirut. For Tamara Saade the only way to process the trauma from that day is through the stories of others. (
The Delacorte Review ([link removed]) )
** Not a subscriber yet?
------------------------------------------------------------
You can get 4 issues of our award-winning print magazine delivered for $20 ($25 for international addresses) by clicking this secure link ([link removed]) .
** YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE! ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
Earth Island Journal is a nonprofit publication. Our mission is to inform and inspire action. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our Green Journalism Fund ([link removed]) .
DONATE TODAY! ([link removed])
** Send this to a friend:
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fb760bf6ac379%2Fgrowing-change-13364567 Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fb760bf6ac379%2Fgrowing-change-13364567)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
**
------------------------------------------------------------
Did a thoughtful friend forward you our newsletter? Keep up with the latest from Earth Island Journal!
** SIGN UP TODAY ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
============================================================
** Like the Journal ([link removed])
** Like the Journal ([link removed])
** Tweet our Stories ([link removed])
** Tweet our Stories ([link removed])
** Follow us on Instagram ([link removed])
** Follow us on Instagram ([link removed])
You are receiving this email newsletter because you signed up on our website.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you can ** si ([link removed])
** gn up ([link removed])
** to the email newsletter ([link removed])
** here ([link removed])
** . ([link removed])
Support our work by ** subscribing ([link removed])
** to our quarterly print magazine ([link removed])
.
Copyright © 2023 Earth Island Journal, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.
Our mailing address is:
Earth Island Journal
2150 Allston Way Ste 460
Berkeley, CA 94704-1375
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
[link removed]
