Eco-Vision
Ecosystem 1.0: Peace To The Amazon
The year was 1971. A small group of twelve people set sail from Vancouver, Canada, bound for Alaska on a dangerous voyage to protest against atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Although they never reached their destination, they introduced the concept of bearing witness and mobilizing public opinion by exposing a crime against nature. It was the beginning of Greenpeace, one of the largest and most active environmental organizations in the world.
Greenpeace continues to use non-violent activism to fight the dangers of climate change, the dumping of toxic waste, the use of nuclear power, and the destruction of biodiversity.
Protection of the Amazon, the world's greatest remaining tropical ancient forest, is a top priority for Greenpeace.
Over the past 30 years more than 14% of the Amazon forest, which covers an area larger than Western Europe, has been devastated. The main forces of destruction are industrial logging, mining, soy plantations and cattle ranching.
Greenpeace is working in the jungle to expose predatory and illegal logging, and in the market place to show consumers how they can help to stop the destruction. "Most people don't realize that when they purchase an article made from Amazon timber in Europe, the US or Japan, there is an 80% chance that the product comes from illegally and unsustainably harvested wood", said Anne Dingwall, Greenpeace's Amazon Project Coordinator.
Since 1999, Greenpeace has had a permanent base and staff in the city of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, from where its international campaign is coordinated. Besides fighting the destruction of the rain forest, Greenpeace is engaged in promoting alternatives that support social and economical development without harm to the environment.
"Greenpeace believes that to save the Amazon, we need to help those people who call the forest their home to find both ecologically and economically sustainable ways of survival", said Dingwall. About 20 million people, including indigenous populations and traditional communities such as fishermen and rubber tapers, live in the Brazilian Amazon basin.
GREENPEACE AND ECOSYSTEM 1.0
Greenpeace is an independent organization that does not accept funds from governments or corporations. Over 95% of Greenpeace's income comes from donations by individuals concerned about the future of the planet. Throughout the years, famous individuals, including many artists, have offered support to Greenpeace, including Midnight Oil, U2, and The Eurhythmics.
As we enter the new millennium, Greenpeace very much welcomes the support of the electronic music community worldwide and considers Ecosystem 1.0 a valuable opportunity to communicate to this generation the urgent need to protect the Amazon.
The Greenpeace role in Ecosystem 1.0 is to provide producers and sponsors with environmental guidelines for the event: renewable sources of energy, the use of recycled and chlorine - free paper, a ban on toxic chemicals for sewage treatment, etc. Greenpeace is also supplying Ecosystem 1.0 organizers with information on the Amazon rain forest in support of the educational objectives of the event.
"As Ecosystem 1.0 is both a live and a web cast event, Greenpeace hopes to raise awareness and support among a large number of electronic music fans for the protection of the Amazon", Dingwall concluded.