Glaciers are a girl's best friend

Texas Tea, liquid gold, earthen vein -- we all know the importance of oil and we all know that this precious crude has taken as many lives as it has caused dramatic lifestyle changes.

However, how many of us realize that a new elixir has taken centre stage in the hot and cold war between rich and poor nations?

Water.

The fact is water became a commodity for many of the top movers and shakers in international politics and business decades ago. As such, this commodification of water prompted ownership, treaties and asset allocation -- all created under the presumption that water (a necessity for life, not just lifestyle) is a resource that can and should be possessed and controlled by a few for the many.

While there are a number of different situations around the world (and across the decades) that deal with water and the fight to keep it public, one of the most recent struggles is taking place in Chile.

The purest water in Chile runs from two rivers in the Valle de San Felix valley, which is fed by two glaciers. As a subsistence economy, the indigenous farmers use the water to live and survive and as a result there is no unemployment -- in fact, these farms provide the second largest source of income for the area.

Sounds good so far, right?

Well, what happens when huge deposits of gold, silver and other minerals are found under the glaciers -- as has happened in Chile? While this is not directly a fight over water -- it is a continued fight over the importance of water in our life, our lifestyle and our economy.

At present Barrick Gold Corporation (the company responsible for the mining project) plans to invest $1.5-billion US over 20 years to extract the rich mineral and precious metal reserve from beneath the glaciers. Protestors charge that this project will involve the removal of 20 hectares of ice and that this will cause serious environmental harm -- particularly affecting the water supply of the 70,000 indigenous farmers in the Huasco valley. The protestors also warn that the removal of even a portion of the ice will cause the release of cyanice and mercury into the valley's rivers, which will cause long-term and far-reaching damage (beyond the Huasco Valley scope).

At present, Barrick Gold has not started work (though they were scheduled to start in January of this year) though they contend that they have taken serious environmental assessments and concluded that their project will cause little damage. Barrick Gold also states that their project will produce 5,000 jobs while it is in operation, which will benefit the region.

OK -- let's recap: water is necessary for life. Barrick Gold wants the minerals NOT the water (or the glaciers that provide this water). Hence, Barrick Gold will destroy the glaciers (water) to get the goods while a portion of the 70,000 farmers who are directly affected and who make a living will lose the resource that feeds and finances them in order to fight for 5,000 low-skilled (read: low-pay) jobs that are not guarenteed past 20 years.

I'm no mathematician but this pay-off seems dramatically off. While jobs are important -- so is livelihood and, at present, these indigenous farmers have a good life (they work, they eat, they pay for their goods and necessities). So why would we want to destroy that -- or more importantly what gives Barrick Gold (and any other interested party) the right to replace livelihood with sub-standard work in the promise of a more industrialized life?

I'm not the only one who questions this tactic. In September of last year the Chilean government was handed a petition of 18,000 names. The petition was signed to protest the Barrick Gold project and (though not directly attributed) has helped postpone mining in the region, at least for now.

However, Barrick Gold is scheduled to start up their work this September. As a result, an international movement is under way to collect as many names on a petition to, once again, protest the open pit Pascua-Lama mining project in the high mountains south of Atacama (on the border between Chile and Argentina).

This is where you come in.

You're tech saavvy (how else did you get here!) and you care (right?). Now, put those two facets together and sign the petition. Let us make a clear and definitive statement: we will not destroy our liquid life in order to line the pockets of those liquifying life.

For more information on the mining project go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascua_Lama
For more information on the protest go to: http://www.miningwatch.ca/index.php?/chile_en/pascua_lama_action
For more information on the story go to: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33501
To send a letter of protest go to the template (print off and post): http://www.miningwatch.ca/updir/Letter_to_Lagos_en.pdf