Is driving your car in LA destroying the Amazon rainforest? Did you know a major destination for processing Amazon crude is the Chevron Refinery in El Segundo? Listen to the interview with Amazon Watch and find out how to take action against this triple carbon impact.
For over three decades, Chevron chose profit over people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The cold and calculated decision to save $3 per barrel and yet poison entire communities is compounded daily as Chevron continues its PR campaign to suppress the truth and barrage the media with lies about its actions and responsibility. Image: pool of crude oil and toxic drilling waste burns at an abandoned Texaco-Chevron oil production facility in Cofan territory. Shushufindi, Ecuador. ©Amazon Watch
Every day multinational oil companies extract over 9 million gallons of Amazon crude from wells in the western Amazon rainforest, shipped to refineries in the U.S., and processed into fuel that ends up in vehicle fleets across the country. Drilling Amazon crude has a triple carbon impact: the burning of the oil, the emissions released when cutting down the rainforest, and the destruction of the world’s largest carbon sink. The Amazon regulates global weather, contains one-fifth of the world’s flowing fresh water, and produces one-fifth of our oxygen. It is home to over 400 distinct indigenous peoples, some of whom could be wiped out by drilling in their territory. The Amazon must be protected.
Amazon Watch works to protect the rainforest and partners with indigenous and environmental organizations to promote human rights, corporate accountability, and preservation of the Amazon’s ecological systems. The Amazon rainforest is part of the world’s cultural and ecological heritage – and an irreplaceable source of “life.”
If you live and drive in LA or depend on oil in any way, find out how you can help reverse deforestation and displacement of Indigenous peoples of the Amazon. Learn how your own oil consumption might be supporting the continued flow of Amazon crude in LA. Amazon Crude is now the second most imported oil in the U.S. from a single foreign country (after Saudi Arabia).
EcoJustice Radio on KPFK: Is driving your car in LA destroying the Amazon rainforest? Hear Zoe Cina-Sklar, Campaigner for Amazon Watch, discuss the “End Amazon Crude” campaign and discover the numerous connections between LA’s oil addiction and preservation of the rainforest.
The majority of Amazon Crude gets refined in California and unfortunately, is driving expansion of oil operations in the rainforest. Amazon Crude is refined or destined to be refined in our backyard, at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo.
Rainforests regulate the global climate and are key to maintaining our broader ecosystem. We are dependent upon them for our survival. The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest and is larger than the continental U.S. It is home to: 1/3 of the Earth’s plant and animal species; produces 1/5 of all its flowing fresh water; provides 1/5 of the world’s oxygen; and 30% of its biodiversity.
Nearly 400 distinct indigenous peoples depend on the Amazon rainforest for their physical and cultural survival. At current rates of deforestation, 50 percent of the Amazon could be devastated by the year 2020. Global deforestation contributes 20–25% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Educate yourself on this issue and help be the change!
Follow the money behind Amazon Crude and join the campaign to divest your own funds and help drive world divestment from the fossil fuel industry. Learn who’s bankrolling oil companies operating in the Amazon, help #KeepTheOilInTheSoil and #OilMoneyOut.
More Info: http://amazonwatch.org/assets/files/2017-stop-fueling-amazon-destruction.pdf
From Carry Kim from EcoJustice Radio and Zoe Cina-Sklar from Amazon Watch.