Why are we going to the Amazon?

We have now witnessed the sickening spectacle of at least a half million gallons of oil a day spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, mixing with hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic chemical dispersants to create a corporate sponsored weapon of mass destruction. Peeking through the clouds of obfuscation spread by BP, with the complicity of the corporate controlled media and U.S. government, we are now beginning to get only a glimpse of the massive devastation being caused by the greatest oil-related environmental disaster in U.S. history. The loss of life so far to humans and marine life is only the first chapter in what promises to be decades of tragic consequences for the health and lifestyle of all impacted by the oil spill.

Now imagine that the flow of oil is not contained by August, as is currently acknowledged as the best-case scenario. Imagine the human and ecological devastation if oil continues to gush at this rate for the next 100 years, dumping over 18 billion gallons of toxicity into the environment.

Would it surprise you to learn a similar scenario has already occurred in the Amazon rainforest of Ecuador, creating the largest oil-related environmental disaster in human history?
During decades of drilling in the Ecuadorean Amazon begun in 1972, Chevron (then Texaco) dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic waste byproduct directly into the rivers and streams of the rainforest, spilled 17 million gallons of crude oil, gouged over 900 unlined waste pits which continue to leach toxic waste into soil and groundwater, and burned hundreds of millions of cubic feet of gas and waste oil into the atmosphere, poisoning the air and creating “black rain” which inundated the area during tropical thunderstorms. And all of that from just one of the oil companies operating in the area.

Indigenous communities in the Ecuadorean rainforest like the Sarayacu, Cofan, Siona, Kichwa, and Huaorani have thrived for generations in one of the most biodiverse regions of the planet. They still live in the tradition of their ancestors, relying on the earth for clean water, healthy food, and preservation of their cultural heritage. Indigenous communities in the area where Chevron (then Texaco) operated have lost 95% of their ancestral land due to the impact of oil operations. Today their people are suffering from obscenely high rates of cancer (over 1400 cancer deaths), birth defects, infant mortality, miscarriages, skin lesions, and other ailments related to water, air, and land polluted by oil companies.
This story has been well hidden by the same corporate, media, and government interests that are covering up the extent of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. There has been scant coverage in mainstream media of the decades long struggle of indigenous communities to resist exploitation by multinational oil companies and preserve their environment and traditional way of life. Indigenous communities in Ecuador and their supporters, led by CONAIE (the nationwide indigenous confederation), have organized national demonstrations, blocked roads, occupied buildings, forced oil workers out of their communities, and demanded that oil companies clean up their toxic legacy.
The ability of indigenous communities to survive in the future will depend in part on their ability to get their story out to the world. It is ironic that hundreds of millions of people worldwide have seen the movie, Avatar, transported through 3-D glasses to the beautiful jungles of Pandora, and deeply touched by the fictionalized resistance of the blue Na’vis to the greedy RDA Corporation. Yet few have seen the real life images of indigenous Amazon communities struggling to save their ancestral homeland and way of life from profit obsessed oil companies.
Eriberto Gualinga is telling just this story. He lives in the indigenous community of Sarayacu in the Amazon and has been making videos about the community and their resistance. For example, in “I Am The Defender Of The Rainforest”, you can see women of Sarayacu bravely confronting the military at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4u8HjLqOdU . Some other videos of Eriberto’s can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/eribertogualinga .

Eriberto has no formal training in documentary filmmaking, minimal equipment, and limited means of distribution. Yet he is teaching what he does know about video production to the youth of the community so they have the means to share their story and build support throughout the world.

Now Eriberto and the Sarayacu community are asking for your help. In response to their request, two Bay Area volunteers will be traveling to Sarayacu in July to provide a month of technical support in filmmaking. Chaz Hubbard is an instructional media technician at Berkeley High School, and Mahaliyah Ayla O is a student at UC Berkeley, studying to be a filmmaker.