Progress Report #4
1.
INTRODUCTION TO THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE
ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION (CED)
a.
Chevron in Ecuador
b.
Finances of Corporate Destruction
c.
Cultural Effects
d.
Environmental Effects
e.
Health Effects
f.
Laws
2.
INTRODUCTION TO CED IN THE CONGO
a.
Economic Justifications
b.
Cultural Effects
c.
Environmental Effects
d.
Health Effects
e.
Laws
3.
INTRODUCTION TO CED IN REGARDS TO YEW TREES
a.
Economic Justifications
b.
Cultural Effects
c.
Environmental Effects
d.
Health Effects
e.
Laws
4.
Q&A
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Presenters:
Dana: Introductions
Jacqueline: Finances
Elise: Culture
Ashli: Environment
Ryan: Health
Caroline: Politics/Laws
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Multimedia:
-YouTube
-Keynote
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Cumulative Progress Reports:
Progress
Report #1 CED
Topic: The impact of environmental destruction on indigenous societies
Group Members: Jacqueline Birkel, Ashlie Hendricks, Ryan Borys, Elise Svennevik, Dana Anderoli, Caroline Kline
Our group has decided to analyze three different accounts in depth, in which large corporations, and "big business" has had an affect on the surrounding indigenous society. The three we picked are: Chevron's interference in Ecuador, U.S. mineral fields invading Congo, and Metro medicine company cutting down Native American Yew trees. Each person has been assigned a part of the research we need to find in order to present these cases.
Jacqueline: Give a business breakdown: which businesses are effecting the environments, and in what way? Dollar for dollar, where is the revenue going? Incorporating spread sheets with data for each company involved.
Ashlie: Describes how the environment,
itself, was affected by the corporations. Were there pollutants? Did it take
away from the habitats, and ecosystems? Were any animals harmed in the process?
Ryan: Discuss the health impacts of having companies in these societies. What happens when oil seeps into the ground, or when a key-stone species disappears? How does human health improve, or decline when a big business takes over?
Elise: Talk about the culture of each indigenous society, and how it was affected. How does the presence of corporations affect the culture of the society? Is it negative, or positive? Can an indigenous society keep their culture intact with big business influence?
Dana: Give a brief history of the locations before the companies arrived, and a summary of how they are doing now. Did the companies have a lasting affect on the environment, people, and society? Was it negative, or positive? Is there a noticeable before, and after?
Caroline: Discuss the laws, and politics of the sites before, and after the companies arrived. Were there certain laws that were ignored, or over-looked by either party? Did the corporations install their own laws, or follow Native law? Have any laws, or policies been put in place due to the businesses arriving/leaving?
Companies have become carless trying to spend less and make more, becoming ignorant to their effect on the indigenous societies they inhabit. We plan on building an effective campaign to prove this theory through multi-media, articles, research, and analysis. Our presentation will include a short five minute clip of each environment we talk about, so as the class can get a better understanding of the area. We will include a power-point type presentation that will hold mostly pictures, and spread sheets. Our sources are coming from the internet, SPEA archives, newspapers, and online databases. The overall questions we want to try and answer are: do companies have the right to exploit indigenous societies, even if it betters a larger population? Does the invasion of corporations help or hurt the environment? Is it possible for the society and the company to come to an agreement, or compromise? Who has the right to the land, and it's resources?
Ryan: Discuss the health impacts of having companies in these societies. What happens when oil seeps into the ground, or when a key-stone species disappears? How does human health improve, or decline when a big business takes over?
Elise: Talk about the culture of each indigenous society, and how it was affected. How does the presence of corporations affect the culture of the society? Is it negative, or positive? Can an indigenous society keep their culture intact with big business influence?
Dana: Give a brief history of the locations before the companies arrived, and a summary of how they are doing now. Did the companies have a lasting affect on the environment, people, and society? Was it negative, or positive? Is there a noticeable before, and after?
Caroline: Discuss the laws, and politics of the sites before, and after the companies arrived. Were there certain laws that were ignored, or over-looked by either party? Did the corporations install their own laws, or follow Native law? Have any laws, or policies been put in place due to the businesses arriving/leaving?
Companies have become carless trying to spend less and make more, becoming ignorant to their effect on the indigenous societies they inhabit. We plan on building an effective campaign to prove this theory through multi-media, articles, research, and analysis. Our presentation will include a short five minute clip of each environment we talk about, so as the class can get a better understanding of the area. We will include a power-point type presentation that will hold mostly pictures, and spread sheets. Our sources are coming from the internet, SPEA archives, newspapers, and online databases. The overall questions we want to try and answer are: do companies have the right to exploit indigenous societies, even if it betters a larger population? Does the invasion of corporations help or hurt the environment? Is it possible for the society and the company to come to an agreement, or compromise? Who has the right to the land, and it's resources?
Dana:
Looking at other cases
studies of environment destruction in other geographic regions of the nation.
Understanding the history and relationship between NGOs and CED by building a
base of knowledge of these past incidences before researching Chevron's presence
in-depth. There's a lot of information in this Human Ecology journal:
http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.indiana.edu/stable/4603291?&Search=yes&searchText=environment&searchText=ecuador&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Decuador%2BAND%2Benvironment%26gw%3Djtx%26acc%3Don%26prq%3Decuador%2BAND%2Bchevron%26Search%3DSearch%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&item=3&ttl=14645&returnArticleService=showFullText
This is a really good
BBC piece on mining in the Congo. It gives a human element to it and lays
out the situation and its effects on the people.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8234583.stm
Ryan:
Researching laws and
using Spanish articles to compare media coverage around world. Now understands
that media has a huge take on things, including laws, and is preparing a chart
for the presentation that can be included in the try-fold as another point of
reference.
Ashli Hendricks:
ECUADOR
http://chevrontoxico.com/about/environmental-impacts/
Describes water and soil contamination from waste pits and how the dumping of produced water is the primary source of environmental damage.
ECUADOR
http://chevrontoxico.com/about/environmental-impacts/
Describes water and soil contamination from waste pits and how the dumping of produced water is the primary source of environmental damage.
- Produced water is
much saltier than seawater, and is extremely hot, rendering it harmful to
aquatic life.
- Overflowing oil
is carried into the region's rivers. Crude oil can evaporate and be
inhaled.
- Animals die by
stumbling into pits or otherwise coming into contact with crude oil and
oil wastes.
- Noxious gases
into the atmosphere, including benzene, a carcinogen.Simply standing
near a waste pit, it is possible to inhale vapors which include toxic
gases.
YEW TREES
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/10/iucn-red-list-tree-chemotherapy
Trees being pushed to the brink of extinction by over-harvesting for medicinal use and collection for fuel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/10/iucn-red-list-tree-chemotherapy
Trees being pushed to the brink of extinction by over-harvesting for medicinal use and collection for fuel
- The harvesting of
the bark kills the trees, but it’s possible to extract Taxol from
clippings, so harvesting, if properly controlled, can be less detrimental
to the plants
Possible solutions
- Harvest and trade controls to
ensure sustainability
- Plants grown in cultivation to
reduce impact of harvesting on wild populations
- Synthesizing the drug,
recreating it in laboratories
- Inventory the trees; know how
many there are and where they are
Jacqueline Birkel
(business reports)
researched business benefits of doing such activities, but also the negative effects of the pr of these events. in the end, it is really worse business. can compare even to nike’s sweatshops and how that effected business. people associate chevron with these incidences and that cheapens their image, which is a priceless asset that companies have!
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/07/19/chevron-invests-2bn-in-venezuelan-oil-fields/
http://books.google.com/books?id=CxR5lUGjlLcC&pg=PA393&lpg=PA393&dq=yew+trees+business+side+cancer&source=bl&ots=b-N1O3-kXA&sig=0QTn3683xVSBEBV9730V7iN2e8c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=49VgUPLPHLGy0QGJ7YDYBg&ved=0CFMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=yew%20trees%20business%20side%20cancer&f=false
(business reports)
researched business benefits of doing such activities, but also the negative effects of the pr of these events. in the end, it is really worse business. can compare even to nike’s sweatshops and how that effected business. people associate chevron with these incidences and that cheapens their image, which is a priceless asset that companies have!
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/07/19/chevron-invests-2bn-in-venezuelan-oil-fields/
http://books.google.com/books?id=CxR5lUGjlLcC&pg=PA393&lpg=PA393&dq=yew+trees+business+side+cancer&source=bl&ots=b-N1O3-kXA&sig=0QTn3683xVSBEBV9730V7iN2e8c&hl=en&sa=X&ei=49VgUPLPHLGy0QGJ7YDYBg&ved=0CFMQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=yew%20trees%20business%20side%20cancer&f=false
Caroline:
Make a trifold or poster of the
certain laws and rights the company and indigenous people have. This poster
will better illustrate some of the violations and will be used as a point of
reference throughout presentation. Thus far she has collected websites explaining
indigenous law in Ecuador and the rights of Chevron. These kind of combat each
other, which we will discuss in our presentation. She has been researching the
Arctic peoples' rights and drilling laws associated with the area.
Things Caroline is currently doing:
looking up links, websites, and books that are associated with Native American
yew trees.
Elise:
So far for the
societal aspect of the project I've looked up the basics about what qualifies a
society as "indigenous" and noted the specific characteristics of
those qualities in each of the societies we will be exploring (Arctic
societies, indigenous groups in Ecuador, and the Native Americans). I've also
found several helpful sources to work with which I have started to read and
sift through for information specific to each society.
Bibliography:
Allen, Karen. "Human cost of
mining in DR Congo." BBC news. BBC, 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 25
Sept.
Cimons, Marlene. "Firm to
Harvest Yew Bark to Get Scarce Cancer Drug." Los Angeles Times 20
June 1991. Web. 24 Sept. 2012.
Conservation Biology. Vol. 15. N.p.: Wiley Blackwell, 2012. 15 vols. Print.
"Environmental
Impacts." ChevronToxico. Amazon Watch, 2012. Web. 23 Sept.
2012.
Gersmann, Hanna, and Jessica Aldred.
"Medicinal tree used in chemotherapy drug faces extinction." the
guardian 9 Nov. 2011. Print.
Keese, James R. Human
Ecology. 3rd ed. Vol. 26. N.p.: Springer, 2008. 451-68. 26 vols. Print.
Mander, Benedict. "Chevron
invests @2bn in Venezuelan oil." Financial Times 19 July
2012. Print.
Rae, Scott, and Kenman L.
Wong. Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics.
2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004. Print.
Elise Svennevik:
I'm coming along
really well with the research. I've read a lot about the Arctic indigenous
communities themselves and a little on how the oil industry has affected them.
I've also read a lot about the indigenous groups in Ecuador. I'm compiling and
organizing everything in ways so that certain aspects of the cultures can fall
under the same broader categories so I can compare them more easily. I am a
good 2/3 of the way done with my research and I'm learning some really
interesting things.
Caroline’s findings:
I’ve been looking up
the political issues involving the Yew Trees. The trees have been hunted to
near extinction, because they have taxol, which is a main ingredient in
chemotherapy. These trees are found in Afghanistan, India, Nepal, and in North
America. Currently their status on the Endangered Species List has changed from
“vulnerable” to “endangered.” Is it right for humans to continue harvesting
them, if they are saving lives, even though they are endangered?
Caroline is also currently
researching the Ecuador and Chevron incident, particularly crude oil,
reinjection methods, and related cancer victims.
Jacqueline Birkel researched the
location of yew trees, noting their growth around religious places like
churches and Native American battlegrounds. Her research indicates ethical and
moral dilemmas surrounding the exploitation of religious and indigenous
properties.
Ashli Hendricks:
I’m continuing
to research the environmental effects caused by destruction of indigenous
areas. In particular, I’ve looked into the water and soil contamination from
Chevron’s waste pits in Ecuador (and additional noxious gases and related
animal deaths), gathering quotes and personal stories for a more humanizing
approach. For my research on yew trees, I’ve focused on more scientific
information regarding their medicinal use and possible solutions in ensuring
the tree population’s sustainability. As far as the oil drilling in the Arctic
Refuge, I’ve focused more on how it is adversely affecting the habitat of
natural wildlife in the area, pushing several species’ breeding grounds further
and further into the foothills, where they are more vulnerable to predators.
Dana:
Dana is doing Youtube
research to give the class a better contextual grasp of the cases studied.
For our exploration
of the Ecuador waste pits, she cites this example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZuM7-3UpQQ. This video gives Chevron a
chance to support its side of the story.
Relative to our Congo
research, she found an informative video that gives a behind-the-scenes look at
the mining process, revealing information that is both factual and recent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP7y8bMwH2s
Ryan:
CHEVRON
MAIN IDEA: The contamination of water essential
for the daily activities of thousands of people has resulted in an epidemic of cancer,
miscarriages, birth defects, and other ailments.
YEW TREES
MAIN IDEA: Pharmaceutical companies
make paclitaxel (Taxol), a prescription drug for the treatment
of breast and ovarian cancer, from the bark of the yew tree. They
extract paclitaxel, leaving the poisonous chemicals in yew behind.
INDEGINOUS PEOPLE OF
ARCTIC
MAIN IDEA: Through atmospheric and oceanic
pathways, contaminants from sources far outside the Arctic region accumulate in
Arctic food webs, threatening the food security and health of people in the
Arctic.
