#brandboycotts — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #brandboycotts, aggregated by home.social.
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Ultra-processed Foods: Trashing Health and The Planet
Our world is facing a huge challenge: we need to create enough high-quality, diverse and nutritious food to feed a growing population – and do so within the boundaries of our planet. This means significantly reducing the environmental impact of the global food system. Below is information about how you can identify ultra processed foods containing palm oil and other harmful ingredients in order to avoid them – for your own health and the health of the planet.
#Palmoil and #meat are ultra-processed unhealthy foods that are harmful to health and harmful to the planet. Here’s how to avoid them. Be #vegan for the animals, #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Ultra processed foods containing #palmoil #meat and #dairy are harmful to health and linked to chronic disease and mortality. Here’s how to avoid them for environmental and #health reasons #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
There are more than 7,000 edible plant species which could be consumed for food. But today, 90% of global energy intake comes from 15 crop species, with more than half of the world’s population relying on just three cereal crops: rice, wheat and maize.
The rise of ultra-processed foods is likely playing a major role in this ongoing change, as our latest research notes. Thus, reducing our consumption and production of these foods offers a unique opportunity to improve both our health and the environmental sustainability of the food system.
ShutterstockFood agriculture is a major driver of environmental damage and ecocide
Agriculture is a major driver of environmental change. It is responsible for one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions and about 70% of freshwater use. It also uses 38% of global land and is the largest driver of biodiversity loss.
While research has highlighted how western diets containing excessive calories and livestock products tend to have large environmental impacts, there are also environmental concerns linked to ultra-processed foods.
Sumatran Rhino Dicerorhinus sumatrensis. 10,000s of animal species, like the Sumatran Rhino are pushed out of their homes by the encroachment of agriculture to make cheap, processed foodsThe impacts of these foods on human health are well described, but the effects on the environment have been given less consideration. This is surprising, considering ultra-processed foods are a dominant component of the food supply in high-income countries (and sales are rapidly rising through low and middle-income countries too).
Our latest research, led by colleagues in Brazil, proposes that increasingly globalised diets high in ultra-processed foods come at the expense of the cultivation, manufacture and consumption of “traditional” foods.
How to spot ultra-processed foods
Ultra-processed foods are a group of foods defined as “formulations of ingredients, mostly of exclusive industrial use, that result from a series of industrial processes”.
They typically contain cosmetic additives and little or no whole foods. You can think of them as foods you would struggle to create in your own kitchen. Examples include confectionery, soft drinks, chips, pre-prepared meals and restaurant fast-food products.
In contrast with this are “traditional” foods – such as fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, preserved legumes, dairy and meat products – which are minimally processed, or made using traditional processing methods.
While traditional processing, methods such as fermentation, canning and bottling are key to ensuring food safety and global food security. Ultra-processed foods, however, are processed beyond what is necessary for food safety.
Australians have particularly high rates of ultra-processed food consumption. These foods account for 39% of total energy intake among Australian adults. This is more than Belgium, Brazil, Columbia, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico and Spain – but less than the United States, where they account for 57.9% of adults’ dietary energy.
According to an analysis of the 2011-12 Australian Health Survey (the most recent national data available on this), the ultra-processed foods that contributed the most dietary energy for Australians aged two and above included ready-made meals, fast food, pastries, buns and cakes, breakfast cereals, fruit drinks, iced tea and confectionery.
What are the environmental impacts?
Ultra-processed foods also rely on a small number of crop species, which places burden on the environments in which these ingredients are grown.
Maize, wheat, soy and oil seed crops (such as palm oil) are good examples. These crops are chosen by food manufacturers because they are cheap to produce and high yielding, meaning they can be produced in large volumes.
Also, animal-derived ingredients in ultra-processed foods are sourced from animals which rely on these same crops as feed.
The rise of convenient and cheap ultra-processed foods has replaced a wide variety of minimally-processed wholefoods including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, meat and dairy. This has reduced both the quality of our diet and food supply diversity.
Ferrero and Nutella responsible for palm oil deforestation despite supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil. Image: Charlie HebdoIn Australia, the most frequently used ingredients in the 2019 packaged food and drink supply were sugar (40.7%), wheat flour (15.6%), vegetable oil (12.8%) and milk (11.0%).
Some ingredients used in ultra-processed foods such as cocoa, sugar and some vegetable oils are also strongly associated with biodiversity loss.
Hersheys is responsible for palm oil deforestation despite supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil.What can be done?
The environmental impact of ultra-processed foods is avoidable. Not only are these foods harmful, they are also unnecessary for human nutrition. Diets high in ultra-processed foods are linked with poor health outcomes, including heart disease, type-2 diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer and depression, among others.
To counter this, food production resources across the world could be re-routed into producing healthier, less processed foods. For example, globally, significant quantities of cereals such as wheat, maize and rice are milled into refined flours to produce refined breads, cakes, donuts and other bakery products.
These could be rerouted into producing more nutritious foods such as wholemeal bread or pasta. This would contribute to improving global food security and also provide more buffer against natural disasters and conflicts in major breadbasket areas.
Other environmental resources could be saved by avoiding the use of certain ingredients altogether.
Demand for palm oil (a common ingredient in ultra-processed foods, and associated with deforestation in Southeast Asia) could be significantly reduced through consumers shifting their preferences towards healthier foods.
Reducing your consumption of ultra-processed foods is one way by which you can reduce your environmental footprint, while also improving your health.
Kim Anastasiou, Research Dietitian (CSIRO), PhD Candidate (Deakin University), Deakin University; Mark Lawrence, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University; Michalis Hadjikakou, Lecturer in Environmental Sustainability, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Engineering & Built Environment, Deakin University, and Phillip Baker, Research Fellow, Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Deakin University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
ENDS
Take Action in Five Ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings
Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao
Health Physician Dr Evan Allen
The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert
How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
https://twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status/1526136783557529600?s=20
https://twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status/1749010345555788144?s=20
https://twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1678027567977078784?s=20
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Pledge your support#BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #brandBoycotts #consumerBoycott #consumerRights #dairy #deforestation #diet #health #meat #News #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmOilFree #palmoil #plantBasedDiet #vegan #veganism
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Boycotts A Great Weapon to Fight Ecocidal Corporates
Bill Laurance, James Cook University
Campaigns and boycotts get the attention of large corporations, because they hit them where it hurts: their reputation and market share.
Campaigns and #boycotts against corrupt commodities like #palmoil and #meat are effective in getting attention of corporate giants because they hit their wallets and sully their reputations #Boycottpalmoil 🌴🪔🔥🙊⛔️#Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2022/02/27/boycotts-are-a-crucial-weapon-to-fight-environment-harming-firms/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterIn October 2000, I was driving through downtown Boise, Idaho, and nearly careered off the road. Just in front of me was a giant inflatable Godzilla-like dinosaur, well over 30m tall. It was towering over the headquarters of Boise Cascade, one of North America’s biggest wood products corporations. For years, the firm had been tangling with environmental groups who blamed the company’s logging practices for declines in the extent of old-growth forests across the globe.
Brands aren’t your friends- Subverting LondonThe huge inflatable reptile was the inspired idea of the Rainforest Action Network, who used it to label Boise Cascade a dinosaur of the timber industry. The blow-up dinosaur was headline news across the United States and the label stuck. Although Boise Cascade tried to deny it was yielding to environmental pressure, it ultimately agreed to phase out all of its old-growth wood products.
Ferrero and Nutella responsible for palm oil deforestation despite supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil. Image: Charlie HebdoEnvironmental campaigns such as this one have become an increasingly important arrow in the quiver of conservation groups, for a very good reason. The world has become hyper-corporatised and globalised, with the result that, as I reported in 2008, deforestation is now substantially driven by major industries rather than by the exploits of poor people trying to make a living off the land.
Last-ditch tactics
Boycotts are typically a last resort. The Rainforest Action Network tried for years to nudge, cajole and finally pressure Boise Cascade to phase out old-growth products, without success. Its gentler tactics worked fine with other big corporations such as Home Depot and Lowe’s, but it took a gigantic dinosaur to get Boise Cascade’s attention.
Globally, some of the most impressive environmental achievements have come via boycotts, or at least the threat of them. Just in the past year, four of the world’s biggest forest-destroying corporations have announced new “no deforestation” policies in response to such environmental pressures.
PZ Cussons – Carex responsible for palm oil deforestation despite supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil. Image: GreenpeaceAmong the worst of these was Asia Pulp & Paper, whose reputation had become so synonymous with rainforest destruction that the retailers selling its products began fleeing in droves. Today, the corporation has ostensibly turned over a new leaf and even thanked Greenpeace – one of its most persistent critics – for helping it to see the light.
Across the globe, boycotts have helped to rein in predatory behaviour by timber, oil palm, soy, seafood and other corporations. They have led to impressive environmental benefits.
Banning boycotts?
But now, the power of boycotts might be on the brink of being reined in, after the federal government floated the idea of banning organised boycotts of companies on environmental grounds.
The move has sparked apoplexy among free-speech advocates, and came as a surprise even to observers whose expectations had already been lowered by the Commonwealth’s plan to devolve environmental powers to the states and territories.
The Boycott4Wildlife is a boycott on brands directly involved in tropical deforestation (and therefore animal extinction)
Join the #Boycott4WildlifeParliamentary agriculture secretary Richard Colbeck said the move would be aimed at “dishonest campaigns”, singling out the campaign against furniture retailer Harvey Norman, which activists accuse of logging native forests.
“They can say what they like, they can campaign about what they like, they can have a point of view, but they should not be able to run a specific business-focused or market-focused campaign, and they should not be able to say things that are not true,” Colbeck told Guardian Australia.
Hersheys is responsible for palm oil deforestation despite supposedly using “sustainable” palm oil.At odds with free speech
Predictably, environmental groups are unimpressed. Reece Turner, a forests campaigner with Greenpeace-Australia, told me:
This policy is at odds with the Liberal party’s professed commitment to uninhibited free speech. The Coalition is going to remarkable extremes to protect big industry from campaigns that are essentially focused on greater transparency of business practices. These campaigns are designed to inform consumer choices – something the Liberal party should be supporting.
One of the more notable aspects of the proposed ban is that it could directly conflict with the Coalition’s stated environmental priorities – one of which is a desire to slow global rainforest destruction as a means to combat global warming.
Of all the environmental actions undertaken to date, boycotts have probably had the greatest direct benefit for rainforests.
As an aside, the Coalition government has recently struggled to find a consistent line on both environmentalism and free speech. Straight after taking office it scuttled the Climate Commission, and is currently fighting to repeal a raft of other carbon policies. Yet it has also announced that Australia will use this year’s Brisbane G20 summit as a “catalyst” to help China, India, Europe and the United States to cut their carbon emissions.
At this early stage, it’s difficult to say whether or not the proposed ban on environmental boycotts will solidify into firm Coalition policy or merely fade away, its proponents having realised this could be too polarising an idea. Let’s hope for the latter. This is a scheme that deserves to go the way of the dinosaurs.
Bill Laurance, Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you or to help pay for ongoing running costs.
ContributeEnter your email address
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Join 3,172 other subscribersShare palm oil free purchases online and shame companies still using dirty palm oil!
Don’t forget to tag in #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife to get shared
https://twitter.com/ECOWARRIORSS/status/1625103083175923713
https://twitter.com/MAPICC2021/status/1643269215929999360
https://twitter.com/netzfrauen/status/1806059662703222960
https://twitter.com/JosieAllan4/status/1716432333698392163
https://twitter.com/ChiweenieT14381/status/1872709841040687385
#boycottPalmOil #boycott4wildlife #boycottpalmoil #boycotts #brandBoycotts #conservation #consumerBoycott #consumerRights #consumerism #deforestation #ethicalConsumerism #meat #palmoil #rainforest #rainforestConservation #wildlifeActivism
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13 Reasons To Boycott Gold for Yanomami
Hunger for Gold in the Global North is fueling a living hell in the Global South. Here are 13 reasons to #BoycottGold4Yanomami. Take action every time you shop! Say no to gold and #BoycottGold!
Hunger for #gold in the Global North is fueling a living hell for #Indigenous people in the Global South. Here’s reasons why you should #BoycottGold4Yanomami #Yanomami #SayNoToGold @barbaranavarro 🥇🧐🔥☠️🚫@palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/12/07/here-are-13-reasons-why-you-should-boycottgold4yanomami/
Share to BlueSky Share to TwitterBehind the insatiable appetite for #gold is a dark secret of money laundering, illegal #mining, environmental #ecocide and human misery. Make sure you #BoycottGold4Yanomami when you shop! 🥇☠️🔥🚜🧐❌#Boycott4Wildlife @BarbaraNavarro @palmoildetect https://palmoildetectives.com/2021/12/07/here-are-13-reasons-why-you-should-boycottgold4yanomami/
Share to BlueSky Share to Twitter1. Gold mining = greenwashing of crime and corruption
2. Even the world’s biggest gold-importing nations don’t properly monitor the origins of their gold
3. Laundering crimes using gold is easy
4. Gold is a legal version of cocaine
5. Gold mining causes massive deforestation
6. Indigenous people have no rights
7. Brazil’s racist President, Bolsonaro allows land-grabbing to continue
8. Indigenous women and children are forced into sex slavery
9. Violence and murder in gold mining is common
10. Mercury kills ecosystems, people and animals
11. Ecosystems rarely recover from the damage – they are dead
12. Jewellery and electronics companies and criminals are the only ones who benefit from gold
13. Over a million children are forced to work in gold mines
How can I help?
1. Gold mining = greenwashing of crime and corruption
Image: Shutterstock
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Just like in every other extractive industry in the developing world, palm oil, fossil fuels, gold mining goes hand-in-hand with greenwashing
https://twitter.com/Dragofix/status/1442168669891670017?s=20
https://twitter.com/BarbaraNavarro/status/1465648549371289602?s=20
https://twitter.com/GOLDCOUNCIL/status/1465719200333373448?s=20
2. Even the world’s biggest gold-importing nations don’t properly monitor the origins of their gold
Image: ‘llegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
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Switzerland, one of the world’s biggest gold-buying nations has weak and pathetic policies for monitoring the origin of gold
The message is loud and clear: the current system to prevent the importation and refining in Switzerland of illegal gold has been found lacking. The country’s financial watchdog reports that Customs data is not sufficiently transparent to differentiate between mined gold, bank gold and recycled gold, all of which are imported under the same code (HS 710812). This absence of identification means bars of dubious origin can easily slip through the net. The report also pinpoints inadequate legislation, compounded by underwhelming penalties: at worst, a CHF 2,000 fine.
‘Switzerland bottom of the class for gold due diligence’, Christophe Roulet, FHH Journal
3. Laundering crimes using gold is easy
Image: ‘llegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
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Corruption and laundering gold is simple and easy
Since there is no way to measure whether any given land could feasibly produce the reported amount of gold, illegal miners can co-opt owners of illegal permits to ‘wash’ gold for a fee – estimated by the public prosecutor’s office at 10% of the value of the gold transaction
‘Procedural Limitations of Monitoring and Tracking the Illegal Mining Process in the Brazilian Amazon’ (2021)In 2020, banks flagged $514.9bn suspicious transactions involving gold companies.
FinCEN Files investigations into the gold trade from around the world. Kyra Guerny, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 2020.If there’s a crackdown in Peru, you just smuggle the gold across the border to Chile. Or if there’s a crackdown all across Latin America, then you can simply sell your gold through the Emirates, where there are very few controls. It’s a very difficult industry to completely eliminate the opportunities for money laundering, because it’s so global and you can just keep shifting your business.
‘‘Dirty Gold’ chases ‘three amigos’ from Miami to Peru and beyond’:
International Consortium of Investigative JournalistsImage: ‘llegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
4. Gold is a legal version of cocaine
Image: ‘llegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
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For drug cartels in South America: Gold is just like a legitimate, legal version of cocaine
“Criminal groups make so much more money from gold than from cocaine, and it’s so much easier
Ivan Díaz Corzo, a former member of Colombia’s anti-criminal-mining task force. ‘How drug lords make billions smuggling gold to Miami for your jewelry and phones‘. Miami Herald, 2018.Drug-cartel associates posing as precious-metals traders buy and mine gold in Latin America. Cocaine profits are their seed money. They sell the metal through front companies — hiding its criminal taint — to refineries in the United States and other major gold-buying nations like Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
Once the deal is made, the cocaine kingpins have successfully turned their dirty gold into clean cash. To the outside world, they’re not drug dealers anymore; they’re gold traders. That’s money laundering.
‘How drug lords make billions smuggling gold to Miami for your jewelry and phones‘. Miami Herald, 2018.5. Gold mining causes massive deforestation
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Mining in Indigenous territories of the Amazon is responsible for 23% of deforestation, up from 4% in 2017
“Over the past decade, illegal mining incursions — mostly small-scale gold extraction operations — have increased fivefold on Indigenous lands and threefold in other protected areas of Brazil”
‘Illegal mining in the Amazon hits record high amid Indigenous protests’, Jeff Tollerson, Nature 2021.“The Amazon Rainforest does not burn by itself. Behind every fire that is lit is corporate greed, like agribusiness. And behind them are the largest banks and corporations in the world. They are the ones who profit from this destruction. They profit from every centimeter of land invaded, from every tree cut and burned. In the flames, they see money.”
Sônia Guajajara, executive director of the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB).6. Indigenous Yanomami have no rights to their land
Image: ‘llegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
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Venezuela’s illegitimate Maduro regime has rolled back Indigenous rights to stop Yanomami from protesting against gold mining
Venezuela’s constitution recognises its indigenous populations, yet their rights are trampled by the illegitimate Maduro criminal regime. The land is also occupied by armed Colombian groups and others working for the Maduro regime, which seeks to profit from selling the illegally mined minerals.
‘Under Maduro regime, indigenous people suffer’, Noelani Kirschner, Share America, 2020.7. Brazil’s racist President, Bolsonaro allows land-grabbing from indigenous people
Image: Transparency International
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Far Right president Jair Bolsonaro’s racist policies in Brazil call for an increase in gold mining, palm oil and cattle grazing and the ‘integration’ of Indigenous people
More than 15% of the national territory is demarcated as indigenous land and quilombolas. Less than a million people live in these truly isolated places in Brazil, exploited and manipulated by NGOs. Let’s together integrate these citizens and value all Brazilians.
Jair Bolsonarohttps://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1080468589298229253?s=20
“We are experiencing an emergency to defend indigenous lives and our territories. We need the world to know this, and to do its part. Indigenous land: not an inch less. Indigenous blood: not a single drop more.”
Sônia Guajajara, executive director of the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB).8. Indigenous women and children are forced into sex slavery
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Sex trafficking is common by women and children, as indigenous people’s traditional means of survival on the land is taken from them
Image: Barbara Crane NavarroThe scale of sex trafficking and paedophilia around illegal gold mines in parts of Latin America is staggering. Thousands of people working there fall prey to labor exploitation by organised crime groups, simply because they have to survive. Girls as young as 12 working in the brothels and bars around illegal gold mines.
‘Sex trafficking ‘staggering’ in illegal Latin American gold mines: researchers’ By Anastasia Moloney, Thomson Reuters Foundation, 2016.Mining regions in the rainforest have become epicenters of human trafficking, disease and environmental destruction, according to government officials and human rights investigators. Miners are forced into slavery. Prostitutes set up camps near the miners, fueling the spread of sexually transmitted infections. One human rights group found that 2,000 sex workers, 60 percent of them children, were employed in a single mining area in Peru. Meanwhile, strip mining and the indiscriminate use of mercury to ferret out gold are turning swaths of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems into a nightmarish moonscape. In 2016, Peru declared a temporary state of emergency over widespread mercury poisoning in Madre de Dios, a jungle province rife with illegal mining. Nearly four in five adults in the area’s capital city tested positive for dangerous levels of mercury…”
Barbara Navarro9. Violence and murder in gold mining is common
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Gold miners are controlled by fear of having their fingers cut off or of being executed
The illegitimate Maduro regime both controls the illegal gold mining and turns a blind eye to environmental and human rights abuses. Human Rights Watch report collected testimonials from Venezuelan gold miners. The report revealed that miners are kept under tight control by syndicates of armed criminals, such as the guerilla organisation FARC, also known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and the ELN, also known as the National Liberation Army. If miners or other members of the public are caught stealing they have their fingers publicly cut off or are killed.
‘Venezuela: Violent Abuses in Illegal Gold Mines’, Human Rights Watch, 2020.10. Mercury used in gold mining kills ecosystems, people and animals
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Deadly mercury is used to extract gold out of the sludge. This poisons and kills everything in its path
Firstly, water cannons blast away river banks. After this, toxic mercury is used by miners to extract gold from the sediment. After the process, the dumping of mercury contaminates the soil and seeps into the air and water. This permanently destroys the water table, dispersing mercury 100’s of miles away, contaminating fishing stocks, animals and humans. Both people and animals in gold mining regions have high levels of mercury present in their bodies, leading to chronic illnesses and problems with brain function.
‘The New Gold Rush’, Wake Forest University, 2018.Infographic: Illegal Gold Mining Chain Peru by Insight Crime
11. Ecosystems rarely recover from the damage – they are dead
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A typical mining site. Even five years after the mine has closed, there is still barely any vegetation. Michelle Kalamandeen, Author provided“Gold mining significantly limits the regrowth of Amazonian forests, and greatly reduces their ability to accumulate carbon. Recovery rates on abandoned mining pits and tailing ponds were among the lowest ever recorded for tropical forests, compared to recovery from agriculture and pasture.”
‘Gold mining leaves deforested Amazon land barren for years, find scientists’ The Conversation, July 1, 2020.12. Jewellery and electronics companies and criminals are the only ones who benefit from gold
Image: ‘lllegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
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Venezuelan gold from Yanomami territories is laundered and ends up in global brands of jewellery and electronics
An investigation of mercury trafficking networks in the Amazon reveals how Venezuelan gold is laundered into legitimate supply chains and could end up in products made by the world’s biggest corporations.
Image: ‘lllegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
The tainted gold leaves the refineries in glittering bars stamped with their logos, and is sold to international corporations that incorporate the precious metal in our phones, computers, cars, and other technologies.
Mercury: Chasing the Quicksilver by InfoAmazonia13. More than a million children work in gold mining around the world
Image: Survival
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There are more than 1 million children working in goldmines around the world. Some of this gold ends up in our mobile telephones. This is the conclusion of the study conducted by SOMO Centre for Research in recent months, which was commissioned by Stop Child Labour.
Every year, the electronics industry uses 279,000 kg of gold with a value of more than 10 billion euros. Making it the third largest buyer of gold after the jewellery industry and the financial sector. Even though nearly all electronics companies state that they do not accept child labour, they are almost doing nothing to actively eradicate child labour in goldmines.
Gold, Child Labour and ElectronicsHow can I help?
Image: ‘lllegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
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Here’s some actions you can take every day to stop the corruption, destruction and human rights abuses associated with gold mining.
1. Raise your voice online for the Yanomami using the hashtag #BoycottGold4Yanomami
Share this article along with many articles by Indigenous Activist Barbara Crane Navarro about this issue on social media using the hashtag #BoycottGold4Yanomami
Image: Barbara Crane Navarro
2. Stop buying gold jewellery and investing in gold
Put your money where your mouth is and don’t support this corrupt and evil industry.
3. Buy vintage second-hand gold jewellery – don’t buy new gold
This makes a unique and special gift for the one you love. It also does not require more mining to get the gold jewellery. This is the ONLY form of sustainable gold jewellery.
Image: ‘lllegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
4. Don’t fall for the luxury advertising of jewellery brands like Chopard, Tiffany&Co, Cartier, Bvlgari etc.
Don’t be a sucker for luxury. Remember the reality of what gold and diamond mining is doing to the natural world and to Indigenous people.
Image: ‘lllegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
5. Fix and repair old mobile phones and laptops rather than buying new ones containing gold
This can be hard with the planned obsolescence of a lot of technology (in other words the short lifespan). However all we can do is do our best. Also you can pressure tech brands to make their goods more long-lasting and repairable and cite this as a critical reason why their industry is corrupt, greedy and needs to change.
Image: ‘lllegal gold that undermines forests and lives in the Amazon’ by Igarapé Institute
6. Support Indigenous Rights NGOs that actually stop landgrabbing in the Amazon, Africa and elsewhere like Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB)
APIB recently successfully took the Brazilian government and Bolsonaro to court for ecocide and deforestation. Avoid supporting NGO’s that do very little other than virtue-signalling, like Survival.
Support APIB6. Follow Barbara Crane Navarro on Twitter and WordPress
She has spent decades fighting for the Yanomami people.
Images: Barbara Crane Navarro
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#Artivism #BarbaraCraneNavarro #BoycottGold #BoycottGold4Yanomami #brandBoycotts #Brazil #collectiveAction #corruption #deforestation #ecocide #extinction #gold #goldMining #indigenous #IndigenousActivism #indigenousRights #mines #mining #SayNoToGold #Venezuela #Yanomami