Indigenous Groups Document Environmental Destruction Using GPS and Google Earth
by Eliza Barclay, Washington, D.C. 
on 01.31.08
The Washington Post had an interesting piece out of Nuevo Jerusalem, Peru today highlighting how the Achuar Indians are using new tools against Occidental Petroleum, a California-based company that they say has polluted their local rainforest ecosystem. One activist carries a digital camera, notepad and a Global Positioning System (GPS) transceiver donated by the civic group Shinai, to document water pollution.
Last spring, U.S. lawyers representing 24 indigenous Peruvians sued Occidental in a Los Angeles court, alleging that the firm broke the law by dumping toxic wastewater directly into rivers and streams, generated acid rain with gas flares, failed to warn Indians of health dangers, and improperly stored chemical wastes in unlined pits. The company, however, has denied all allegations, but the new photos and GPS data may serve as fresh evidence of the environmental havoc.
Meanwhile, other groups in Brazil are using Google Earth for similar purposes. Peter Kostishack, a Colorado-based rights activist, uses the application to record coordinates and satellite images of rainforest erosion and post them on his blog. With help from the U.S.-based Amazon Conservation Team, Indians in the Amazon Basin have used Google Earth imagery to spot river discoloration caused by illegal mining operations. ::Via The Washington Post
:: See also our coverage on Using GPS to Track Global Warming
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Would that be Al Gore's Occidental Petroleum?
Just asking.
John Henry
I am glad that technology can manifest assistance to accountability for environmental crimes. How can I help? I just want the dollar tracker version that traces crime from culprit to the High demand, and low needs of the American consumer. Oh this means a mental effort to conserve and use wisely. The real question is "what comes first the supply or the demand"?. If supply was higher than demand then what is unfit would rot away. Demand less physical and more intellectual pursuits of resources. Thjink before you make it stink.!
The real question is where are the universal laws of accountability for crimes against humanity and the planet.? Is there a Quantanamow bay for terrorists who scare us with their Earth threatening tactics. I want to be a guard there, no water boarding allowed.!
"If supply was higher than demand then what is unfit would rot away."
I'm not sure this is very sound reasoning, rather probably wishful thinking. It wouldn't matter how low demand was if the cheapest method of supplying that demand was to pollute. This is why free markets have to have environmental regulation.
Someone should do the same for the first nations people down the river from Fort MacMurray Here in Alberta.. They are being poisoned to feed the beast that is the American/ Canadian oil hunger. And the Gov. (both provincial and federal) are ignoring it.