Anyone who has the remotest notion that sending the contributions, even if they totaled many times the "value" of the oil will stop the drilling has no understanding at all of the big oil companies and the governments they subvert. The only way to prevent further destruction through oil drilling is to reduce consumption to the point that the oil companies holler "uncle." Think it will happen?
David McNeely ---- Emily LeGrand <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I was just reading Nature magazine and apparently the plan the Ecuadorian > government has to avoid oil drilling in Yasuni National Park, the most > biodiverse place on earth, and home to one of the last groups of people > living in voluntary isolation, is not working. Estimates are that there are > possibly 920 million barrels of oil underneath the national park, and the > Ecuadorian government has proposed to avoid drilling if the world is willing > to pay Ecuador $3.6 billion, approximately half of the expected value of the > oil. This $3.6 billion is a measure of how the world values biodiversity, a > sacred way of life and perhaps most of all, a stable climate. The money > would go toward helping the Ecuadorian economy shift away from the oil > dependency of the last 30 years. > > My thought is that if the movie Avatar, which essentially is the story of > Yasuni, was the highest grossing film in history in North America, surely it > touched a nerve, and surely each and every person who saw the film can > afford to spend the price of the movie ticket or video rental to contribute > to this fund, which reportedly has only $100,000 in it. Each barrel of oil > is worth about $5-9, depending on how you value the oil itself versus the > cost to mitigate its combustion. This is about the price of a movie ticket > or video rental. There is debate about whether the Ecuadorian government is > trustworthy. And of course, there is the very legitimate viewpoint that > this is essentially holding biodiversity and native people ransom, and that > since life is priceless, this is unacceptable behavior. But if this is what > it will take, most people who could afford to see the movie initially can > also afford to be put out another $7 in hopes that this will work. If you > are more comfortable signing a petition to register support, do that. > > I have put together the following links so that you can educate yourself > about the issue, allow yourself to feel what could be lost, and to buy your > barrel of oil. Please send this to everyone you think would care and/or > everyone you know who has seen Avatar. If you have seen it, definitely send > it to the people you saw the movie with. Let's make this viral and let's > make the fund grow! > > http://www.yasunigreengold.org -lots of information, and an opportunity to > sign a petition and to donate. > http://www.theworld.org/2010/01/29/avatar-in-the-amazon/ - movie and article > about how indigenous groups in western Ecuador felt about Avatar > http://www.saveamericasforests.org/Yasuni/SS/index.html- a slideshow > http://www.saveamericasforests.org/pages/GivePage1.htm > <http://www.saveamericasforests.org/pages/GivePage1.htm-donation>page > to donate > > Thank you! > Emily LeGrand -- David McNeely
