“If we continue preying on the Earth under the banner of the oil economy, we put at risk both our lives and that of the planet. Mother Earth is tired of so much abuse and ill-treatment. Now is the time to put on the brakes, to say, “this is the limit, we can’t continue this way.”Patricia Gualinga, international relations coordinator of the Kichwa First People of Sarayaku of the Ecuadorian Amazon
Tomorrow in the US and as part of Global Divestment Day thousands of activists around the world will be calling on governments, universities, places of worship, and in some cases, their own families, to pull their investments from the fossil fuel companies that are threatening the future of life on Earth. “Divestment” is about aligning our investments with our values and challenging the political power of an industry that is threatening indigenous peoples, polluting our politics and driving us toward climate catastrophe. Global Divestment Day was anchored on Valentine’s Day because each act of divestment is calling on political leaders to protect the places that we love.
In that spirit we are trading that cliche bouquet to bring you The Slimy Seventeen – Seventeen oil companies that are causing catastrophic damage to a place that we so love: the magical Amazon. Most of the companies are publicly traded, and some have other pressure points to leverage. Over following weeks we will shine a light on the worst of the worst and give you some tools to dissuade them from continuing to wreak havoc on the Amazon. Can’t wait? Get started with GoFossilFree’s Action Toolkit.
Fossil fuel companies, heavily subsidized by taxpayers around the world, spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year finding new reserves of unburnable carbon. The scientific community agrees that we need to keep some 80% of fossil fuels in the ground in order to avert climate catastrophe – and we should start in the Amazon rainforest – a global treasure that is critically important to the survival of our planet and the indigenous peoples who call it home.
As the world’s largest and most biologically diverse tropical forest covering an area larger than the continental US, the Amazon houses one-third of the earth’s plant and animal species, contains a fifth of the world’s freshwater and plays a critical role in regulating our global climate as it produces oxygen and absorbs carbon.
It is also home to nearly 400 distinct indigenous peoples that depend on the forest for their physical and cultural survival. For decades indigenous peoples have been protecting the rainforest from the drivers of climate change, including deforestation and fossil fuel extraction.
Indigenous communities have been doing their part to defend the Amazon; now it is time for us to do ours.
“This isn’t just the fight of indigenous peoples. It’s the fight of everyone, because the air we all breathe doesn’t have borders. Let’s join forces and change our way of seeing the world. We can generate a much more lasting benefit – the general good of building an alternative that favors all life.” – Patricia Gualinga
