198
economist William Nordhaus’ lecture, “Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge
for Economics,” as acutely described in David Leonhardt’s essay, “The Problem
With Putting a Price on the End of the World – Economists have workable policy
ideas for addressing climate change. But what if they’re politically impossible?”
7
When we flew over one of the oil complexes in Yasuní with Dr. Ivonne Baki,
former Ecuadorian Ambassador to the United States, and Ecuador’s then
Plenipotentiary Representative and Secretary of State for the Yasuní-ITT Initiative,
the 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil beneath the jungle were worth twice the price of
collapsed value in 2012, nearly four times their all but abandoned price thresholds
at the gas pumps in 2020, though the 407 million tons of carbon consumption that
oil represents, if refined and consumed, had not, and has not, changed. At the time,
the ITT proposal’s objective, according to Dr. Baki, could “be qualified as both
holistic and revolutionary because, in addition to addressing the root of global
warming and biodiversity loss, it also aspires to fight poverty and inequality within
Ecuador; to stop deforestation and promote reforestation, to protect the National
Parks and invest in research and sustainable development. Given the fact that the
Yasuní-ITT Initiative is a government project, it offers an opportunity for oilproducing developing countries, such as Ecuador, to end their dependence on an
extractive economy and seek dignified development opportunities through the sustainable use of its natural resources”
8
.
Spending many days and nights in that tropic made it abundantly clear how illfitted we American urbanites were to the habitat. But how remarkably graceful and
at home were the small local populations of Quechua-speaking Añangu, the Huaorai,
Gagaeri, and Taromenane. Two known “uncontacted tribes” in the region had
already apparently gone extinct, the Oñamenane and Huiñatare
9
. Perhaps the
remaining macaws in the trees above their final campsites recall some of their
words, remember their songs, a scenario which has indeed played out in other such
instances. Their complete disappearance into the forest, Republics and Confederacies
up in smoke, join at least two dozen other vanished North American indigenous
societies, but no precise number is certain. At least 100 or so uncontacted groups
remain worldwide, according to an abundance of data gathered by organizations
like Survival International in London.
And while some communities, like the Añangu, had thoroughly engaged with the
outside world, building community-owned lodges like that at the Napo Wildlife
Center, others desperately tried to maintain their own worlds, and in some cases that
desperation has led to necessary political engagement, particularly in defense of
7 The New York Times, April 9, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/09/magazine/
climate-change-politics-economics.html, Accessed April 13, 2019.
8 See Why Life Matters: Fifty Ecosystems of the Heart and Mind, by Michael Charles Tobias and
Jane Gray Morrison, Chapter 8, “Ecuador’s Imperiled Paradise – One of the World’s Most
Important, If Least Known Battles: A Conversation with Dr. Ivonne Baki,” p. 48.
9 See Nuwer, Rachel (2014-08-04). “Future – Anthropology: The sad truth about uncontacted
tribes”.
BBC
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140804-sad-truth-of-uncontacted-tribes,
Accessed April 13, 2019.
21 The Yasuní Effect
economist William Nordhaus’ lecture, “Climate Change: The Ultimate Challenge
for Economics,” as acutely described in David Leonhardt’s essay, “The Problem
With Putting a Price on the End of the World – Economists have workable policy
ideas for addressing climate change. But what if they’re politically impossible?”
7
When we flew over one of the oil complexes in Yasuní with Dr. Ivonne Baki,
former Ecuadorian Ambassador to the United States, and Ecuador’s then
Plenipotentiary Representative and Secretary of State for the Yasuní-ITT Initiative,
the 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil beneath the jungle were worth twice the price of
collapsed value in 2012, nearly four times their all but abandoned price thresholds
at the gas pumps in 2020, though the 407 million tons of carbon consumption that
oil represents, if refined and consumed, had not, and has not, changed. At the time,
the ITT proposal’s objective, according to Dr. Baki, could “be qualified as both
holistic and revolutionary because, in addition to addressing the root of global
warming and biodiversity loss, it also aspires to fight poverty and inequality within
Ecuador; to stop deforestation and promote reforestation, to protect the National
Parks and invest in research and sustainable development. Given the fact that the
Yasuní-ITT Initiative is a government project, it offers an opportunity for oilproducing developing countries, such as Ecuador, to end their dependence on an
extractive economy and seek dignified development opportunities through the sustainable use of its natural resources”
8
.
Spending many days and nights in that tropic made it abundantly clear how illfitted we American urbanites were to the habitat. But how remarkably graceful and
at home were the small local populations of Quechua-speaking Añangu, the Huaorai,
Gagaeri, and Taromenane. Two known “uncontacted tribes” in the region had
already apparently gone extinct, the Oñamenane and Huiñatare
9
. Perhaps the
remaining macaws in the trees above their final campsites recall some of their
words, remember their songs, a scenario which has indeed played out in other such
instances. Their complete disappearance into the forest, Republics and Confederacies
up in smoke, join at least two dozen other vanished North American indigenous
societies, but no precise number is certain. At least 100 or so uncontacted groups
remain worldwide, according to an abundance of data gathered by organizations
like Survival International in London.
And while some communities, like the Añangu, had thoroughly engaged with the
outside world, building community-owned lodges like that at the Napo Wildlife
Center, others desperately tried to maintain their own worlds, and in some cases that
desperation has led to necessary political engagement, particularly in defense of
7 The New York Times, April 9, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/09/magazine/
climate-change-politics-economics.html, Accessed April 13, 2019.
8 See Why Life Matters: Fifty Ecosystems of the Heart and Mind, by Michael Charles Tobias and
Jane Gray Morrison, Chapter 8, “Ecuador’s Imperiled Paradise – One of the World’s Most
Important, If Least Known Battles: A Conversation with Dr. Ivonne Baki,” p. 48.
9 See Nuwer, Rachel (2014-08-04). “Future – Anthropology: The sad truth about uncontacted
tribes”.
BBC
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140804-sad-truth-of-uncontacted-tribes,
Accessed April 13, 2019.
21 The Yasuní Effect