Devastation and Contamination
- 18 Jan 08, 10:20 AM
Posted from: San Lorenzo.
We’re back in San Lorenzo again on the way out of Achuar land at last. We’ve filmed the end of our story and are on our way to the next. Thankfully this time we’re not in the prison, but in the hostel next door, which is more like an open prison than the maximum-security unit of previous visits.
Yesterday we filmed the aftermath of an oil spill in the jungle outside Andoas. About two weeks ago a significant amount of crude oil from a well flowed into the tributary of the Corrientes. We arrived on the scene with Guevara, an Achuar environmental monitor from the nearby village of Jose Oliya. The Correintes flows through their village, it used to be their source of water before it became too contaminated.
Bruce at the scene of the oil spill
The oil spill was pretty horrible. Although the oil company had done a good clean-up job, and were still working there when we arrived, the effects were all too visible. Pools of black glistening oil collecting in the stream; branches and leaves coated in crude raked into piles for collection; a swathe of black destruction cut through the green forest.
We had failed to get to the pollution site the day before when our four-wheel drive got stuck in deep mud on a steep hill. Contractors working for the oil company towed us out with a huge tractor. They were really nice guys and couldn’t have been more helpful or friendly.
Stuck in the mud
That night we stayed in Jose Oliya, a small Achuar settlement in the middle of this vast jungle oil field. It was the saddest place we have visited on this trip so far, a blighted place caught between two worlds. There was litter everywhere and empty oil drums. Their traditional Achuar life has all but gone, but it has been replaced with other benefits. Every house had a TV or a stereo, they had electric lights, one even had a deep freeze. But they looked lost, unable to live as traditional Achuar hunters, but still rapidly adjusting to life in our brave new world. Many of the men worked for the oil company and earned a good wage.
The presence of the oil industry in the jungle was overwhelming. As we drove from Andoas out into the forest we passed massive pumping plants, bases for the workers, heavy plant and miles and miles of pipelines. The dirt road was busy with 4x4s full of men in hard hats. They all waved and smiled at us, then looked puzzled when they saw a camera and boom mic.
The next day Guevara took us up the Corrientes by canoe. We walked into the forest and immediately heard the sound of heavy machinery. Incredibly we saw more wildlife here than anywhere else so far on our journey – monkeys, an eagle, a beautiful black snake. Twenty minutes later we emerged from thick jungle into a massive clearing dominated by a huge pumping station. The noise was deafening. We walked for another two kms along the dirt road and found another huge oil well. This was the site of the leak.
As we slid down the muddy bank into the contaminated stream, the heavens opened and the wind picked up, and it poured down with thick cold rain. We filmed Bruce, Guevara and Jorje walking through a scene of post-apocalyptic destruction.
Bruce at the oil spill near Jose Oliya
We all need oil to make our world tick, this film shoot would be impossible without it, but living in the West we seldom see the damage caused at the point of extraction. This was a devastating illustration of what oil production can do to a remote indigenous population and their traditional way of life. The river is polluted, the animals are contaminated, the children get sick. I’m glad we saw it and filmed it but I am also glad to be leaving. I feel desperately sorry for the people we are leaving behind. It is not somewhere you would want your children to grow up.
We asked Guevara if the oil company had given the Achuar anything. ‘Contamination,’ he answered. We asked what he hoped his children might grow up to be. ‘Lawyers,’ he said, ‘so that they can fight for their rights.’
We all wished him luck and drove off in the 4x4 that the oil company had given to the community.
Comments
very sad.I couldnt imagine raring a familly in that area! Keep up the good work, vant wait for the tv series
It's heartbreaking. I'm glad that this information is being made more and more public.Thankyou for bringing this to our attention. We're all so used to modern living it's hard to imagine the impact we make, but creating a demand is the key problem, not just the big corps making big bucks.We all need to be more conscious of the materials that we use and 'think' we need