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From the lates Decoin blog, at www.decoin.org

A reason to celebrate.

A (very) quick summary of our work 

 New publications

Letter to Earth

The reason to celebrate is not because the government has wised up and abandoned it's

greedy plans to exploit the copper lying under some of the world's most biodiverse place

here in Intag. That truly would be a reason to celebrate. The celebration has more to do

with the fact that after seventeen and a half years of being threatened by mining

development, Intag is still free of the nightmare- thanks to all of you that have supported

out work. However, we are not yet clear of this threat. The “Barbarians” are still at the

gate and ready to resume the destruction of our ecosystem and communities. This time

it's Chilean owned Codelco, the world's largest copper producer. And, just because they

come wearing suit and ties and hard hats doesn't make them any less Barbarians. Just the

opposite in fact.

DECOIN'S WORK 

I was going to summarize our seventeen and a half years of work, but it was a bit

overwhelming. One of these days. However, I think some of the most important

elements are contained in the Dear Earth letter below. There are many more. Briefly they

include: helping declare our County an Ecological County (the first in Latin America);

creating the AACRI Coffee Association; opening a Fair Trade Store in Otavalo (going

very well thank you); helping found and support the Junin Ecological Tourism;

 producing a wealth of printed, radio environmental material for schools and

communities, distributing thousands of films on mining and the environment, and

 promoting environmentally sustainable farming........

I did want to mention that soon DECOIN will be publishing the Water-quality study

done on Intag's rivers and streams, many of them belonging to communities that were

 purchased, reforested and/or protected as part of one of DECOIN's conservation

 projects. The slender book, authored by Karen Knee, will be published in May. In short,

it found that Intag's water- especially its drinking water- is very good quality and similar 

in quality to water originating in protected forests. Most of the reason, undoubtedly, is

due to DECOIN's community watershed reserves initiative, which, along the Parish

government conservation action plan, I consider to be the most successful conservation project in Intag. Because of it, thousands of Inteños are drinking safe water, and

 biodiversity is actively being protected by communities. As soon as I can figure out

how to upload the study to the page, Ill do so- in both English and Spanish. Until then,

try to download it here (Spanish version for now):https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9kKrl6DxURrNF9aZTU5X0JKaEU

English:

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Earth Economic Study.

In May we should be getting the copies of Earth Economics groundbreaking Intag

Ecosystems Evaluation Study to distribute to decision makers, such as Assembly

members, academics, local governments and key NGO's. The report proves, with a

wealth of economic data, that Intag's ecosystem services are worth far more than mining

development. We knew that of course, but it's great to have a prestigious economicorganization based in the U.S. confirm it.. You can download the English version here:https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9kKrl6DxURrQ2lGUEo1XzNiY1k/edit

A Letter to Earth

Dear Earth,

First of all my most sincere and deepest apologies. After decades of knowing how much

damage we've done to You and all Your ecosystems, we are still happily carrying along

as if nothing is wrong. More and more of our species are being born every day and will

 be inculcated with the same premises and values that has brought so much ecological

havoc to You, and so much grief to so many of Your human and non-human inhabitants.The premises include: more is better, newer is cool, humans are the crown of creation,

forests are just cubic meters of lumber, Your oceans are for dumping garbage and the

fish are there for mankind to eat.

The dysfunctional paradigm dictates that economic growth trumps human and

environmental health, places profit above everything else, and the only way to measure

 poverty and wealth is by measuring the growth in Gross National Product. One of the

more dangerous premises of this paradigm that refuses to die is that Your elements are

nothing more than resources to be turned into goods for the exclusive benefit of one

single species: Homo sapiens. Who, by the way, still believes his species is blessed byunique, special privileges conferred onto it by a supposedly supra natural entity who put

all of Your living and non-living elements at its disposal. Yes, I know the term Homo

sapiens is laughably absurd. I often wish I wasn't associated with it or the species; but

the misnomer has stuck and changing species is pretty damn difficult as far as I can tell.

In the land of forests and clouds where I live, and which politicians and geographers call

Ecuador, the situation is no better than anywhere else on Your surface. For example,

here a current head of State is ardently pushing large-scale mining development in this

land; one of the most culturally and biologically diverse in the world, and exceptionally

rich in water. You may not believe this, but this Homo supposedly-sapien wants to mine

in the middle of primary cloud forests, lowland rainforests, and paramos!! And he would

even mine on the sea floor if he had the techology!! This individual, who is supposed to

 be smart by human standards, is actually- and are you ready for this- pushing mining in

areas so rich in rivers and streams that the mining companies don't know what to do with

all the water! The streams and rivers as well as underground aquifers will be

contaminated by this activity with such acidity and toxic metals, that it will render the

rivers dead in perpetuity. Yes, in perpetuity! And, if that wasn't bad enough, many of 

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these rivers and streams are used by thousands of his own kind for drinking, irrigation,

fishing and for recreation. These are all facts. I promise I'm not making any of it up!!

Do they know what they are doing? Yes; no doubt. Why, You wonder? The answer is not

so complex; it's called greed-induced Stupidity. Wrong Life Premises. They like the

quick, easy money mining can bring to the government coffers. They are drunk, still,

and after centuries, with the belief that development is the same as material well-being;nice roads, exuberant consumption, car ownership, building of clinics, high-paying jobs,

and computers in every home. And bigger homes to fill them with more and newer stuff.

This individual, called president here in Ecuador, actually believes he can eradicate

 poverty by allowing dozens and perhaps hundreds of large-scale mines up and down the

water and biologically rich Andes Mountains- one of the more majestic places on Your 

surface. What poverty is he talking about you might ask? Exclusively economic! Never 

mind that mining in these countries actually increase overall poverty.

In this scheme of things, in order to grow the economy You lose. And lose big time.

Humans like this individual see no problem with destroying whole Cordilleras to processa few pounds of gold, or so many tons of copper or coal that feed industries- in other 

 parts of Your sphere, I should mention- for a few days or weeks. Unique, biodiverse

cloud forests are thus easily turned into open-pit nightmares, hemorrhaging heavy metals

for thousands of years. The people whose points of view he represents- and tragically

they still are legion- would call the health impacts and cultural, social and environmental

devastation accompanying mining and other kind of extractive development, 'the

inevitable price of progress'. People and species who live on the ground have another 

name for it: utter devastation.

This is just here in this place called Ecuador, but It's pretty much the same all over. So,for what little it's worth, I apologize. At the same time, I want You to know that not all is

doom and gloom. There are many, many humans working hard to overturn this way of 

relating to You. Today, for example, perhaps as much as a billion humans will be

celebrating Your Day: Earth Day. There will be celebrations, tree plantings, clean-up of 

rivers, music, puppets, film festivals, and many other ways in which people will be

celebrating Your Birthday. To express their gratitude; to manifest their angst for the way

things are, and the way things ought to be. To clamor for change.

And, there's no doubt things are changing, even if the pace appears to be much too slow.

Specifically, in our corner of You, the small, very small, organization I work for hashelped plant tens of thousands of trees; most of them native species. We are working

with communities and local governments to protect as many rivers, streams and forests

as possible, along with the thousands of species that make these systems of life their 

home. I can't recall exactly how many thousands of hectares of forests we've helped

 protect, but it's not less than 12,000. I realize it's not much in comparison to what is lost

every day; but it's what we can do with what we have. We are also working hard against

mining projects that would destroy many more thousands of hectares of primary forests,

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rivers and communities in a beautiful and biodiverse Cordillera known as Toisan.

DECOIN is working very hard to expose the lies that governments and industries, like

Chile's Codelo, tell communities and local governments about the impacts and costs of 

mining in such water-rich and biodiverse environments. And, since there are so many

lies, the work is very hard and time consuming.

We've also recently taken up again the work with schools, so we can educate the young people about their true place in Nature, and what they can do to be part of the solution to

the environmental nightmare afflicting You, and a part of the problem.

More than anything, our work is oriented at changing people's attitude towards You. To

make it a reality what a very important piece of paper here in this place called Ecuador,

in theory, values: the Right to Sumak Kawsay, which translates into Living in Harmony.

In harmony with oneself, with one's neighbors and social and biological community and,

most importantly, in harmony with You. Incredibly, the same legal document also gives

You rights; the first country in the world to recognize that Nature has rights! If it wasn't

for the fact that very few, and least of all government officials, takes this right seriously,it would be reason for major celebrations.

As You might have guessed, it's hard work to go against the raging river that is the

dominant model of development and confront the interests behind it. It's difficult work 

 because the economic system is very, very powerful, and the politicians submissive to

economic interests, and extremely short-sighted. Plus, companies spend millions to

make sure people consume their goods, and green-wash their image. But, in spite of the

overwhelming odds, more and more people are getting the message and changing their 

lives. And, like us, there are many groups and individuals really trying to make a

difference; and succeeding.As little as these actions are, I sincerely hope they are a source of encouraging news to

You.

Oh, I almost forgot! I thought you might like to know that my partner and I named our 

recently born and beautiful daughter after you: Mares Gaia!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Carlos Zorrilla

Intag, Ecuador 

Earth Day 2012

--

“No podemos confiar nuestro destino a representantes políticos que, en realidad, no representan a sus

 pueblos sino a los capitales con sus intereses presentes en sus pueblos. Necesitamos nosotros mismosasumir una tarea salvadora. Cada uno en su lugar, cada comunidad, cada entidad, en fin, todos debemoscomenzar a hacer algo para dar un rumbo diferente a nuestra presencia en este planeta. Si no podemoscambiar el mundo, sí podemos cambiar este pedazo de mundo que somos cada uno de

nosotros. Leonardo Boff  

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 A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Greek proverb