Over the past week and a half, Ecuador, a country that does not figure prominently in our consciousness has now made the front pages, and not for good reasons. Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate, was assassinated in broad daylight as he left a campaign rally in Quito. A journalist, who had written about governmental corruption, he had pledged to combat the drug gangs that have taken over the country.
Drug cartels are not the only issue facing Ecuadorian voters. Today, election day, voters will also vote on an important environmental question regarding oil drilling in the Yasuni Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini oilfields, which lies in an Amazon forest, one of the world’s richest areas of biodiversity.
Chinese state owned oil companies are threatening the more than 655 species of birds and small animals in this area, not to mention the Worani people, as oil is extracted to sell to U.S. processors. We consume half the oil extracted. This is just one reason why Ecuador matters. Cheap oil comes at a price.
Prayer for the Day
Far-away places that seldom come to mind challenge us, O God,
For what happens in one place on this earth affects us all;
Animals and birds we will never see cry out for protection, O Lord,
From insatiable greed and corruption giving us cheap oil.
Save us, Holy Creator, from our desire only to pay less,
While peoples far from us suffer due to our own greed.
In the name of the One who touches the earth,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Oil extraction isn’t development. We only need to look at the facts to see the truth: oil causes, poverty, contamination, and death.
- Nemonte Nenquino, Worani leader
If we can’t manage to protect places that are this important, then it seems unlikely that we’ll be able to protect the rest of the planet.
- Kevin Koenig, biologist, of Amazon Watch
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;
For God has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in God’s holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not countenance what is false.
Psalm 24: 1-4