Some children have heroes they look up to throughout life.
For me, I found my hero in my mid-twenties. I was taking a late night flight from Detroit to San Francisco and the plane was nearly empty. As I found my seat at the back of the aircraft, I looked down and saw the Earth Day edition of Vanity Fair staring back at me as if it was saying, ‘read me’.
I did read it and what I read in that one issue changed my life.
I was running my company at the time, importing and distributing high-end fashion and launching European brands across the United States. I had also just started my own eco-conscious brand (Rain Tees) and was dealing with how to transition from being miserable working with “fast fashion and elite hyper-consumerism” to being in over my head and terrified of starting a completely new eco venture with very little capital or experience in apparel production.
I had already begun some charitable work in the Amazon- a region that had fascinated me since childhood- and as I opened the magazine I turned immediately, and almost instinctively, to a massive spread on how a native Ecuadorian man, Pablo Fajardo, was now the lead lawyer in the largest environmental court case in history.
Pablo was raised in extreme poverty and through the help of the local Catholic Church he put himself through law school.
He went on to become the lead lawyer against Chevron (previously Texaco), who are said to have dumped nearly 17 million gallons of crude oil and 20 billion gallons of drilling waste water directly into the Ecuadorian Amazon between 1964 and 1990.
Oil pipelines run endlessly through Pablo's town of Lago Agrio, Ecuador like veins...
The cancer rate in Pablo’s region of Lago Agrio is now estimated at seven times higher than the rest of the country’s population and people living in proximity to oil pollution have suffered increased incidences of skin disease, respiratory ailments, and reproductive disorders.
People swim daily in this tributary to the Amazon that has been completely contaminated by oil. Many children living in the villages here have died from contamination or suffer from cancer and other diseases. Cancer rates in this area are 7 times higher than in other areas of Ecuador.
Not even three years after reading that article and thinking how amazing it would be to meet Pablo personally, and have Rain Tees be part of ending the horrendous human rights violations in his community, I find myself sitting in Pablo’s tiny office in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, asking him questions about the case and how we can create more coverage of his work with a film crew in tow. It was surreal but never have I felt more fated to be part of something.
Rain Tees founder Beth Doane speaks with Pablo Fajado.
I have to admit, though, that being part of this is not exactly easy at times. When I visit Lago Agrio my skin breaks out in a rash that itches beyond belief and I even have some trouble breathing at times. The heat due to the vast deforestation for oil drilling also makes long stays there nearly unbearable. It’s also hard knowing that much of the food here is contaminated and that drinking water always needs to be purified but most of the locals can’t afford this and the indigenous don’t even use a monetary system like we do.
A child swimming in a tributary to the Amazon that has been completely contaminated by oil. You can see the petroleum reflections on the surface of the water. Many children in his village have died from contamination yet they have no other water supply to live from.
Seeing children bathe in their rivers covered with petroleum would make anyone dizzy with confusion as how on earth any company would let this happen.
Crude oil dripping into the Amazon-contaminating drinking water and poisoning countless people and animals. Do you know where the oil you are driving on comes from?
It’s even more painful to think that years ago this was as much a rainforest paradise as other parts of the Ecuadorian Amazon still are that have not been ravaged by oil companies.
Rain Tees founder Beth Doane handles a mass of crude oil sitting on the floor of the Amazon. The oil was left there by oil companies who wanted to save money by choosing not to use a re-injection process as they do here in the USA after they drilled. Their choices are now poisoning indigenous tribes and communities and have created one of the worst human rights violations in history. This black mess is so toxic it literally burns through the latex gloves.
When Pablo talks about what he has personally faced to bring a company like Chevron to trial, he speaks about mysterious and threatening telephone calls, defamatory publications, and negative and deceptive national press and persecutions.
Perhaps the most tragic thing he has endured is the brutal torture and murder of his brother. He says, “Even though I cannot prove Chevron was responsible, I cannot say otherwise. He was killed eight days before we began the strongest phase of this litigation.” Many say that his brother’s killer was indeed looking for Pablo instead.
It’s one of my personal goals to carry his message and his mission around the world as his story is indeed a real life David and Goliath adventure; one that will surely inspire many for years and years to come.
Beth Doane with Pablo in Lago Agrio.
The more people that hear of the work and achievements of Pablo and his team, the more they may be inspired to also achieve what was once thought impossible. For more information on what is happening in Ecuador and stay updated on the Chevron case visit amazonwatch.org.
By
Beth Doane
Rain Tees Founder and Designer
Photos by Kellee Laser www.kelleelaserphotography.com
