Thursday, June 19, 2008

Oil - Crude Reflections

The high cost of oil isn't limited to the recent price rises, as a new book from publishers City Lights explains. Crude Reflections/Cruda Realidad: Oil, Ruin and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest "chronicles the human and environmental impact of oil drilling in the Ecuadoran Amazon, where the pollution is so extensive that medical experts currently predict thousands of deaths from cancer and the disappearance of five indigenous rainforest communities."

Elevated rates of cancer and birth defects are already being reported in the region. The local struggle against the social and environmental destruction of the rainforest in Ecuador is graphically documented by photographers Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak. The text is in both English and Spanish.

www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100896180