Exploitation · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with exploitation

Crude, the Film, Shows Real Price of America's Oil Addiction (Hint: It's Not Just the Environment)

Crude is the story of a community of 30,000 tribal members in the Amazonian jungle of Ecuador who hold a corporation to bear for its crimes against their land, their livelihood, and most importantly, their lives. The film follows the intricacies of what has been called the “Amazon Chernobyl.”

The indigenous population claims that Chevron, the parent company to the former Texaco, spent thirty years contaminating the air, land, and water of an area the size of Rhode Island which is now called the “death zone.” Cancer, leukemia, and birth defects are among some of the effects of Big Oil. The film was shot and edited over a period of three years, with Berlinger and the crew sacrificing their own safety by facing both environmental (toxic fumes, disease, searing equatorial heat) and man-made dangers (shooting near the Colombian border where drug runners and FARC rebels are very active) to capture a story they felt must be shared with the rest of the world.

Berlinger’s cinematic sensibility paints a picture that captures the lush vitality of the Amazon, the horrendous atrocities endured by the tribespeople, and the complicated path that social justice must traverse, all the while avoiding cliche and stereotypes. Amazon Watch and the Rainforest Foundation have both been instrumental in bringing the Ecuadorian devastation to the public eye.

Trudie Styler, Sting’s wife, and noted activist, appears in the film to lend celebrity to the cause. Repeatedly referring to the Amazon as “the lungs of the earth,” Styler and others point to the far more serious nature of the toxicity than mere dollars can assuage. If Ecuador is in trouble, we are ALL in trouble. If tribe members cannot fish or swim, that affects us directly. Transnationals can no longer act in a vacuum of backyard antics.

Vanity Fair featured an article in the 2007 Green Issue on the case in Ecuador, and attorney Pablo Fajardo, who passionately represents the plaintiffs. In one scene in the film, Fajardo notes that he is not intimidated by the high powered legal team because he has truth on his side, which makes his work that much easier. He doesn’t have to work diligently to create lies about what is happening.

Without sensationalizing the health effects of the toxic swamp left in the Ecuadorian jungle, Berlinger simply allows the water to tell the tale. The water, the rivers, the streams, and pools appear fresh from a distance as children play, women wash, and people drink. Once approached, the rainbow sheen of petrol catches the light and the scent of gasoline sends heads reeling. The ground is soft sludge as the pollutants work their way through the soil and into the Earth. One of the Texaco/Chevron representatives claims: “this is not contamination, this is industrial exploitation that your government permitted.” Amazing. This film must be seen.

In order for this film to have a chance of being seen by the rest of the country, it must nearly sell-out in NY, LA and SF, so tell your friends, blog about it, spread the word…go see this film. Because the film doesn’t have huge marketing dollars, it’s up to people like you and me to spread the word online.

Here are some important screening dates: for locations click here
-NYC: September 9-22
-L.A.: September 18-24
-S.F.: September 25-October 1
-D.C.: October 23-29

Amazon, Cancer, Chevron, children, cities, community, death, exploitation, farm, fish, gas, health, Lush, News, NYC, oil, Outdoors, Politics, rainforest, rum, style, Tea, Vanity Fair, water, women

What is the Price of OUR Stuff?

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by Jennifer Veilleux · 01/13/08

Ever wonder about the complete picture of consumption in our uber-consumer society and how it ties in with our global environment? Well I was recently turned onto the website for The Story of Stuff, which features a fantastic and informative story (with animation!) about our stuff-driven economy.The presentation is long, but if you’ve patience with it and ride it out, even the most informed of us can learn something new or at least feel inspired to pass the word along. There are also chapters to skip around if you’ve one particular section of the “stuff” driven storyline.The site offers solutions as well as the story of stuff, so it doesn’t leave you feeling helpless and hopeless against the system. Key message here? Social responsibility: consume less, consume more responsibly, spread the word, and take action against the exploitation of the earth and its people!

consumption, exploitation, solutions

Jamaica's "Life and Debt"

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by Brianne Goodspeed · 02/17/07

If you want to feel pleased with yourself, your country, or your recent tropical vacation, don’t watch “Life and Debt,” Stephanie Black’s 2001 documentary about the relationship between the IMF and Jamaica. The film is antagonistic–it features lots of shots of overweight, drunk and dopey looking Americans–but the interviews with Jamaican farmers, former Prime Minister Michael Manley, and IMF officials are informed and smart.

The film’s narration is based on Jamaica Kincaid’s “A Very Small Place,” (Penguin, 1988) a must read if you are in the mood for flagellation or some refreshingly confrontational honesty. Jamaica Kincaid writes about tourists, “…you make the leap from being that nice blob sitting like a boob in your amniotic sac of the modern experience to being a person visiting heaps of death and ruin and feeling alive and inspired by the sight of it; to being a person lying on some far away beach, your stilled body stinking and glistening in the sand.”

Not surprisingly, Kincaid has a lot of critics and there is a valid argument that her work would be more powerful if her prose were somewhat measured. But I appreciate her antagonism. I prefer it to feeling cheaply pleased.

Actually, Kincaid does lighten up a bit towards the end of the essay (and narration) with a plea to see things from a different perspective. “That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere…Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives—most natives of the world—cannot go anywhere. They are too poor.”

While the not-so-subtle subtext of “Life and Debt,” is that Americans and Europeans are complicit in the exploitation of Jamaican farmers, the larger message is about the role the IMF plays in the destruction of local economies throughout the developing world—with Jamaica as a case-study. At 126 minutes, “Life and Debt” is longer and more thorough than most documentaries and has a solid soundtrack that features Peter Tosh and Bob Marley.

death, Europe, exploitation, farm, interview, local

Save The Chimps

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 11/19/06

We haven’t done a lot on animals/mammals here at Eco Chick, but it seems to me that our relationship with other species is a huge part of our societal experience. Some say I am anthropomorphizing other creatures, and that my passion for animal rights is sentimental at best. I think that being raised on National Geographic PBS specials, picture books of oceanic tours with Jacques Cousteau, and being taught to support the WWF made me predisposed to this ‘big-hearted naivety,’ and I am grateful to my father for always exposing me to the natural world.

The other night I saw a show done by PBS’ Nature called “Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History,” that traces the way chimps have been treated in Western culture. Used for space travel, scientific testing, and for entertainment in Hollywood, this creature, that has 99% of the same DNA as humans (closer to us genetically than they are to gorillas,) has suffered horrifying injustices. Some of the chimps shown on the program had not been out of a cage or felt sunlight for fifteen years. This moving study shows the chimps being transported from a bio-medical facility in New Mexico to an island in Florida that was created for them to be free and enjoy their final years in peace without ever having the threat of going back into a laboratory. Save The Chimps, headed by Carole Noon, Ph.D., was founded when the U.S. Air Force announced it was “getting out of the chimpanzee research business.” STC built the sanctuary in Florida for the chimps only. There is no gift shop, there are no viewing pens, and there is no exploitation. If you are interested in volunteering, donating, or giving a memorable gift this year, check out the site of this benevolent organization. You can do everything from donate money to sending some cran-raisins for an adopted chimp. I plan to take my kids to do some volunteer work one day as a mini eco-vacation.

animal rights, Animals, book, books, business, car, Entertainment, exploitation, farm, giving, Hollywood, kids, labor, reviews, spa, sport, Tea, travel, wood

Head of the Interior heads for the Exterior: Gale Norton Resigns

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 03/15/06

Last week U.S. Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton resigned amidst rumblings of scandal regarding purported connections between her department and disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Many environmentalists applauded her departure due to her appalling record for supporting corporate interests and being unable to bridge the ever-expanding gap between big business and environmental advocacy.

While financial incentives encouraged private investment in land preservation and generated praise from The Nature Conservancy, Norton’s record is largely one of exploitation and promoting Right-Wing interests. Famous for opening Yellowstone to snowmobiles, her enthusiasm to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, and stripping protections for the Endangered Species Act, Norton’s conservative pandering will not be missed.

Of course, Bush will probably look for another James Watt clone, but perhaps his current realization of our ‘addiction to oil’ will encourage him to look for an individual whose interests align more with environmental ideals and sustainability than the almighty dollar. Doubtful.