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At 06:51 PM 04/18/1999 , David wrote:
>
> I do believe large-enough-to-be-viable "museum" locked-away-from-humans
reserves are
>necessary now
How about the large biological megadiversity "museums" already protected by
indigenous peoples in those parts of the world so bug infested that we haven't
developed them much? Some good work's been done on raising consciousness
about
these areas we don't know like our backyards.
http://www.conservation.org/web/fieldact/c-c_prog/science/consbio.htm
Some indigeneous live sustainably in their revered forests, often biological
treasure troves. Wouldn't it be effective to help them protect their
livelihoods? No need even to pay rangers. At least challenge our US
government
assistance to such corporations?
Last fall I researched a story about a Texas/Lousiana Company that is
acting as
pushy as the real estate develper that renovated the house next door to me.
Only this company is the sixth largest toxic-water discharger in the world.
And about a dozen Texas and Louisiana students brave enough to challenge their
morality. God bless the naive, defiant folks. The story is below, but I
don't
know if there are any recent developments in it.
Nan
This story is of Texas and Lousiana corporate lords polluting rainforest
habitat with their mine. This Goliath is challenged by a handful of Texas
and Lousiana faculty and students and the Indonesian indigenous of the forest.
In Irian Jaya, Indonesia, there's a 13,000 foot mountain with gold and copper
ore in it. http://www.twnside.org.sg/souths/twn/title/mine-cn.htm And also
one of the last major tropical forest wilderness areas. About as rich in
biological diversity as Brazil and
Colombia.http://www.conservation.org/web/fieldact/regions/aspareg/indonesi.h
tm
Not many people live near there and most are bows and arrows and machetes
folks. They consider the mountain sacred.
But a Lousiana corporation with a Texas CEO sees it as the biggest gold
mine in the world. They've dug railroadcars of gold from it, dug off 400 feet
of mountain to do it. They dump the waste rock treated with acid down the
rivers. 130,000 tons of it a day. The acid and silt are hard on the river.
And the rock clogs the river, so sometimes the mess overflows all over the
forest. The mining company admitted the waste killed some 20 square miles of
forest
and will kill another 80 before we're done. But testing the water's against
the law.
You see the law owns shares in the mine. So they get favorable laws. For
lessons on how to be a rich dictator look at the Suharto Financial
Institute at
this net address: http://www.bandersnatch.com/suharto.htm
The indigenous are hopping mad that the corporation's taken about 25,000 acres
of their land and spoiling their livelihood. So, around the mine, there are
thousands of armed men, company cops and such. 300 of the indigenous
showed up
one day at the army post with bows and arrows for a peaceful demonstration.
The
company cops shot at them.
http://texasobserver.org/subjects/corporate/indonesia.html
In 1995, pollution caused the US government to cancel the mining company's
political risk insurance on environmental grounds. So they hired Henry
Kissinger to argue for them. Political risk insurance? I've heard of
Federal
Mortgage Insurance, but our tax dollars insuring transnationals for
politicalrisk? Will collapse and die-off mean American citizens cover their
loss, like
in the S&L mess?
The CEO of the parent corporation, Freeport McMoRan, in Lousiana, is Jim Bob
Moffett, graduated from the University of Texas in Austin. UT geologists
have done a million dollars of the research on the mine. A couple of years
ago, he gave the school a biology building. The school named it the Jim
Moffett building. http://texasobserver.org/subjects/corporate/indonesia.html
The Austin students and faculty raised a stink. How could they name a biology
building after a world famous polluter? Students got 3,000 signatures on a
petition. The students kept protesting for the last two years resolutions
etc. http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/boyer/fp/ The press has picked up the
story numerous times.
The kids at the Jesuit Loyola University in New Orleans also kicked up a
ruckus when Jim Bob gave Loyola a $600,000 resources for an environmental
professor. The Loyola administration told the students to keep quiet. But they
persisted. A hundred students, faculty and people picketed Jim Bob Moffett's
mansion in
New Orleans. Two days later, he asked for the money back. The student
activists said "Several of us have received hate messages and death threats
from people who think we should keep our noses out of this."
http://net.cs.utexas.edu/users/boyer/fp/forum.html
But some Lousiana folks are already tired of Freeport McMoRan already.
"Freeport was dumping millions of tons of radioactive gypsum waste into the
Mississippi River, making it the number one water-polluter in the nation,
according to EPA reports. In response, Freeport launched a massive
public-relations campaign extolling their commitment to the earth, and fought
successfully for enormous federal tax breaks. This would allow them to
partially contain the runoff from the gypsum waste, they said -- waste they
had fought to dump in the first place. As it stands now, Freeport continues
its
dumping and is the sixth largest toxic-water discharger in the world."
http://net.cs.utexas.edu/users/boyer/fp/forum.html
Maybe that's why a couple of Lousiana judges ruled the Indonesians *could* sue
Moffett in a Lousiana court. Anyway, Jim Bob will likely face a jury trial
for human rights and environmental damage in Indonesia.
With the help of a dozen activists in Austin and New Orleans, can the
thousands of Indonesian forest bow and arrow people protect their forests and
rivers?
Nan Hildreth Nan.Hildreth@PDQ.net
Houston Sierra Population/Sustainability Contact
"Less developed" cultures:
Their currency is cooperation,
Their security is community.
They are more sustainable than we are and it's time we honored them for it.