Oil and the Amazon

One of our purposes for coming to Ecuador is to explore the more recent drilling for oil in the Amazon jungle. For science students, the effects on the environment and ecosystems are clear. But there’s another side to the story that they are also learning about. Without oil, Ecuador would be a banana economy, as bananas are their second largest export. So we have to look at the situation with some balance. Clearly there could be far better regulation and monitoring and less impact on the environment. We are stopping to see some of the oil infrastructure in the Amazon.Read more