Dear friends who value our earth and its indigenous people,
Please judge for yourself if you want to take action here.
In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from two rivers, fed by two glaciers. Water is a most precious resource.
Indigenous farmers use this water, there is no unemployment, and the rivers provide the second largest source of income for the area. Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world.
And to make two huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine's rubbish dump.
The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called BarrickGold.
The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior. The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year, 2006. The only reason it hasn't started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution. If they destroy theglaciers, they will not just destroy the source of specially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process. Every last gram of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses. The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been prevented from making a TV appeal by the Chilean Ministry of the Interior. Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile.
The only place to start changing the world is from here.
We ask you to circulate this message amongst your friends in the following way.
Please copy this text, paste it into a new email, adding your signature and address. Please send it to everyone in your address book.
Please will the 100th person to receive and sign the petition send it
to:
noapascualama@yahoo.ca
It will then be forwarded to the Chilean government.
NO TO PASCUA LAMA OPEN-CAST MINE IN THE ANDEAN CORDILLERA ON THE CHILEAN-ARGENTINE FRONTIER.
We the undersigned ask the Chilean Government NOT to authorize the Pascua Lama project, and thus to protect the whole of three glaciers, the purity of the water of the San Felix Valley and El Transito, the quality of the agricultural land of the region of Atacama, the quality of life of the Diaguita people and of the whole population of the region.
Signature, City, Country
1) Katharine Proudfoot, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2) Laura Cole, London, UK
3) David Platt, London, UK
4) Diane Platt, Manchester, UK
5) Tanya Corker, Manchester, UK
6) Shelley Ford, Dunedin, New Zealand
7) Christopher Wilson, Dunedin, New Zealand
8) Lisa Johnston, Dunedin, New Zealand
9) Carolyn Timms
10) Piripi Taylor, Aotearoa
11) Chanon McPherson, Auckland, New Zealand 12)Justin Traynor, Auckland, New Zealand
13) Keith Stubbs, London UK
14) Minette Williams, London UK
15) hannahmi van der merwe, London UK
16) Filipa Domingues (cape town, south Africa)
17) Jess Reynolds, Cape Town, South Africa
18) Alexander Wilson, Cape Town, South Africa
19) Olivia Jurgens, London, UK
20) Dee Pinto, Johannesburg, South Africa
21) Clare Unwin, London, UK
22) Nicola Robins, Cape Town, South Africa
23) Sally Andrew, Cape Town, South Africa
24) Bowen Boshier, Cape Town, South Africa
25) Bishop Geoff Davies, Cape Town, South Africa
26) Rev Kenneth Gray, Victoria Bc Canada
27) Rev. Larry Scyner, Victoria, BC
28) Penny Clayton, Victoria, Australia
29) Louise Taylor, Melbourne, Australia
30) Maaret Virtanen, London, UK
31) Omalene Colburn, Vermont, USA
32) Josephine Colburn, Vermont, USA
33) Ana Ocasio, Vermont, USA
34) Sara-Katherine Coxon, Vermont, USA
35) Allison Diehlmann, Sharon, Vermont, USA
36) Ina Anderson, Sharon, Vermont, USA
37) Ruth Bonita, Vesancy, France.
38) Aloyzio Achutti, Porto Alegre, Brazil