Sunday, November 12, 2017

The modern gold rush that's destroying the Amazon

Via Billy

Kids play near a camp of illegal gold miners in the Madre de Dios region of Peru.

One autumn day in 2009, the price of gold topped $1,000 an ounce.

That nice, round number brought cheers on London trading floors and toasts in Manhattan bars, but it made a different noise in "Mother of God," Peru.
 
Madre de Dios is a pristine chunk of the Amazon about the size of South Carolina, where macaws and monkeys, jaguars and butterflies thrive. It is some of the healthiest rainforest left on Earth and here, that $1000 number brought the sound of chain saws, diesel pumps and dirt bikes.
 
More @ CNN

2 comments:

  1. Yeah, those barefoot kids won't benefit in any way from the jobs and money that will follow.

    /sarc

    MUCH more important to have a pristine environment - the hell with the people who live there.

    ReplyDelete