"Crude" - the story of oil in Ecuador

Last week I was fortunate to see two great movies relating to the environment and the food we eat. The first was Crude, which a lawsuite against Chevron for the large scale spillage and contamination of the Amazon in Ecuador when Chevron decided to drill.

In essence, the company dumped all their waste into nearby watersheds, contaminating the drinking water of thousands of residents. It also buried excesses by piling small amounts of dirt on top - later families that had homes on top found that their teenagers were dying of cancer. In one scene that stays in my mind, a baby was covered in a red rash. The nurse at the hospital said it was due to all the chemicals, and that eleven to fifteen out of every twenty babies had it. (Chevron has said that the deaths are due to poor sanitation.)

The amount of damage was shocking, but I wasn't shocked that we had never heard of these disasters - like many industry giants today, the oil industry has a lot of money and power behind it, so claims or lawsuits usually don't have a chance. In this case, a NY law firm was backing the indigenous tribes that were filing for damages. By the end of the film, an independent investigator judged that the damages were an estimated 37 billion; however, at this time the company is appealing the ruling.

For more information, please keep reading up on oil and check out the website: www.crudethemovie.com