Look To The Stars News: Amazon Watch

Sting And Bianca Jagger Support Amazon Dam Protest

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Three Amazon indigenous leaders have travelled to London to rally public, press and government support of their communities’ fight against socially and environmentally destructive mega-dams planned for the Amazon basin – gaining the support of Sting and Bianca Jagger.

Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui, leader of the Suruí tribe of the Madeira River Basin, Brazil; Ruth Buendia Mestoquiari, President of Central Asháninka of the Ene River, Peru; and Sheyla Yakarepi Juruna, representative of the Juruna tribe of the Xingu River Basin, Brazil, have travelled to Olso, Geneva, Paris and now finally London to highlight the violation of indigenous peoples’ rights their peoples are facing with the planned construction of these Amazon mega-dams that will destroy enormous areas of rainforest and displace thousands of forest-dwelling peoples. The indigenous leaders are here with the support of the Rainforest Foundation UK, in conjunction with other NGOs Amazon Watch and International Rivers, with financial support from Rainforest Concern.

Sigourney Weaver Narrates Amazon Video

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0000

Amazon Watch and International Rivers have teamed up to create a state-of-the-art 10-minute Google Earth 3-D tour and video narrated by actress Sigourney Weaver, with technical assistance from Google Earth Outreach, in support of Brazil’s Movimento Xingu Vivo Para Sempre (Xingu River Forever Alive Movement).

The video and tour allow viewers to learn about the harmful impacts of, and alternatives to the massive Belo Monte Dam Complex on the Amazon’s Xingu River. A Portuguese version of the video and tour, narrated by well-known Brazilian actor Dira Paes, will be launched next week.

The interactive tour and video call attention to the Belo Monte Dam, which, if built, would be the third-largest hydroelectric dam in the world. The dam would divert the flow of the Xingu River, one of the most important tributaries of the Amazon River, in order to produce electricity for industrial mining operations in the region. The dam’s reservoirs would flood 668 square kilometers, displace more than 20,000 people, and generate methane, a lethal greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Late last week, the Brazilian government signed the concession to build the $17 billion-dollar project, ignoring local, national, and international opposition, proven financial and technical risks, and the ready availability of clean energy alternatives.

Daryl Hannah Joins Fight Against Oxy In The Amazon

Fri, 07 May 2010 11:30:00 +0000

On Thursday, a group of Achuar indigenous leaders from the Peruvian Amazon arrived in Los Angeles to confront Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) at the company’s Annual General Meeting.

During the stockholders’ meeting on May 7th, the leaders will repeat their demand that Oxy clean up the toxic legacy of harm they have left in the Corrientes river basin after 30 years of operation in this part of the Achuar ancestral Amazonian homeland. Actress Daryl Hannah and the Executive Director of Amazon Watch, Atossa Soltani, will join them.

Oxy’s oil operations in the Peruvian Amazon have caused massive environmental devastation, and led to a severe public health crisis among the Achuar people. Between 1971 and 2000, Oxy drilled more than 150 wells and built nearly 300 miles of roads in the formerly intact Amazon rainforest homeland of the Achuar indigenous people.

James Cameron Returns Triumphant From Amazon Trip

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:30:00 +0000

The Avatar director and one of its stars have played a part in halting an industrial development project that threatens indigenous people of the Amazon.

Earlier this week, we brought you the story of James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver’s trip to Brazil to raise awareness of the indigenous communities’ battles to stop the massive Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in the Amazon rainforest. We are now happy to report that the Dam Project Auctions have been canceled, and both stars are now in Washington DC for meetings with US Government officials.

Celebrities Support The Amazon At "Crude" Screening

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:30:00 +0000

The New York Times’ Stephen Holden called it “A sprawling legal thriller with rare depth and power.” Village Voice’s Ed Gonzales called it “A Herculean work of investigative journalism.”

They’re talking about Crude, a new feature-length documentary meant to bring attention to and lay out both sides of the 27-billion-dollar lawsuit surrounding Chevron’s polluting of the Ecuadorean Amazon during its years of oil exploration.

While the press has been extolling the film’s efforts, celebrities such as Sean Penn, Rosanna Arquette and Dave Navarro are helping to bring attention to the 16-year trial by attending Crude’s premiers that are running through major US cities. Trudie Styler went so far as to invite 6,000 Chevron employees in San Francisco to see the film.

Stars To Host Eco-Film Screening

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:30:00 +0000

Last month, Look To The Stars brought you news about a new eco-film featuring Trudie Styler that chronicles the effects that Chevron’s oil production facilities are having on locals in Ecuador. Now Amazon Watch – which works to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin – invites you to a special benefit party and premiere screening of “Crude” in Los Angeles.

The special screening of Crude will be co-hosted by Benjamin Bratt, Daryl Hannah, Esai Morales, Martin Sheen and many other big names, and will take place on September 17 at Harmony Gold Theater on Sunset Blvd.

Crude is a high-stakes David vs. Goliath legal drama with 30,000 Ecuadorian rainforest dwellers facing down Chevron – the fifth largest corporation on the planet. This special event will benefit Amazon Watch’s Clean Up Ecuador campaign to hold Chevron accountable and bring justice to affected communities, and is being held in association with the Rainforest Action Network.