The Results Are In!

A referendum has passed in Ecuador by a margin of around 20% in favour of halting the oil extraction from the Amazon.

This is a victory for indigenous peoples everywhere, and will hopefully see 726m barrels of oil remain in the ground. It is the first country in the Amazonian region to have pushed through a ban on extraction, and hopefully not the last.

There is power in normal people’s voices so use yours to support halts to environmentally damaging extraction wherever you see it (if of course you want to, which you probably should).

In the UK we are faced with our own threats, namely the proposed new Rosebank Oil field. This new field will not lower energy bills nor will it improve our energy resilience into the future. Most of the gas will be exported to countries whose champagne swilling representatives have shaken hands with the right men in suits.

Rosebank will drastically damage the North Sea ecosystem, lock workers into a dying industry and continue to make oil giants richer and richer.

So take heart from Ecuador, and use your voice against new oil and gas.

For more information, genuinely check out the work of the Stop Cambo campaign - putting the planet before profits is a choice that will be vindicated. In the words of Russell Crowe “in this life or the next”.