Lessons from Ecuador

I am amazed at how a country with a per capita GDP of less than $8,000 is showing us, and the rest of the world, model after model for responsible governance. Actually, I take that back. I am amazed at how useless GDP is as a measurement of, well, anything. But that's not really where I am going with this post. Today, Ecuador made international headlines for, yet again, another progressive measure for addressing climate change and the preservation of its natural environment (it goes without saying that the two are interrelated).

You might recall that back in September the country voted to amend its constitution to include a bill of rights for nature. Effectually, this extended the same rights that the country's human citizens enjoy to rivers, streams, forests, animals, etc. This was an unprecedented legal framework, to say the least. You might also recall that Ecuador is host to a lawsuit that thousands of indigenous peoples and farmers have filed against Chevron (to the tune of $27B) for Texaco's failure to properly cleanup from its previous operations. Yes, Ecuador's involvement is somewhat coincidental, however, the public response from its president is not. Rafael Correa has been highly critical of the company's behavior. So much, in fact, that Chevron is contending that they cannot receive a fair trial.

Now, Ecuador is pursuing a plan that will incentivize foreign investment through the sale of carbon offsets. While this concept is not entirely new, the Ecuadorans have put a different spin on it, and one that has the potential to be much more lucrative from both a dollar and carbon mitigation perspective. The reason being that the offsets would not merely be tied to the preservation of the forests. Rather, they would be tied to the preservation of the oil reserves that reside beneath the tropical forests. This would prevent this oil from ever being tapped, extracted, refined, or combusted; thereby preventing an estimated 410M tons of CO2 emissions. What a deal!

Jazz Fest 2009 - Weekend 2

I headed back to Jazz Fest this past weekend for another healthy dose of music. And, again, New Orleans did not disappoint. From Kings of Leon to Cowboy Mouth to Alan Toussaint to Neil Young to Trombone Shorty with Dirty Dozen and Rebirth to Robert Randolf and the Family Band to Michael Franti Trio, I came away with about the same feeling I always have when leaving Jazz Fest...that I caught a little bit of everything.

My appetite was also quite satisfied after devouring a crawfish monica, a crawfish po' boy, a vegetarian platter, a crawfish sausage sandwich, and some crawfish bread (over the course of the three days). I must say that it's a bit of a toss up between which is better: the food or the music.

One notable first this fest was being a flag holder. It lasted for about 5 minutes before we relegated the flag to the nearest post, and negotiated the shared use of some bungee chords. I now have a tremendous amount of respect for the people that carry their flag every day.

Once again, much love to the city of New Orleans.

Note: A picture of the flags flying at the always clowned out Acura Stage.