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from the protect-the-environment-by-damaging-it dept.
The NYT reports that Peruvian authorities say Greenpeace activists have damaged the fragile, and restricted, landscape near the Nazca lines, ancient man-made designs etched in the Peruvian desert when they placed a large sign that promoted renewable energy near a set of lines that form the shape of a giant hummingbird. The sign was meant to draw the attention of world leaders, reporters and others who were in Lima, the Peruvian capital, for a United Nations summit meeting aimed at reaching an agreement to address climate change. Greenpeace issued a statement apologizing for the stunt at the archaeological site and its international executive director, Kumi Naidoo, flew to Lima to apologize for scarring one of Peru’s most treasured national symbols. “We are not ready to accept apologies from anybody,” says Luis Jaime Castillo, the vice minister for cultural heritage. “Let them apologize after they repair the damage.”
But repair may not be possible. The desert around the lines is made up of white sand capped by a darker rocky layer. By walking through the desert the interlopers disturbed the upper layer, exposing the lighter sand below. Visits to the site are closely supervised - ministers and presidents have to seek special permission and special footwear to tread on the fragile ground where the 1,500 year old lines are cut. “A bad step, a heavy step, what it does is that it marks the ground forever,” says Castillo. “There is no known technique to restore it the way it was.” Castillo says that the group walked in single file through the desert, meaning that they made a deep track in the ground then they spread out in the area where they laid the letters, making many more marks over a wide area. “The hummingbird was in a pristine area, untouched,” Castillo added. “Perhaps it was the best figure.”
(Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday December 14 2014, @05:35AM
Note, I said "can". I'm very dubious myself that their ignorance was anything but willful in nature. It would be absolutely incredible that anybody higher up in Greenpeace knew such damage would be a direct result of their actions as well. If it's proven that GP executives knew beforehand, than GP executives should be handed over. However, nothing was actually destroyed. They only *added* next to existing features. Their failures were due to a lack of sophisticated knowledge about geology and the ground. I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they did not know their own shoes would be putting indelible marks on the ground, which does not excuse them in any way. I was only attempting to remove malice as a motivator, not inconsideration or arrogance. Complete repair is wholly impossible, but matching the colors and luminosity with other materials laid over it, isn't. From the sky we might never know Greenpeace was there as the lines and hummingbird are intact and untouched. This isn't as permanent or as damaging as Peru would have you believe, but it's absolutely as damaging in terms of relations and trust. I would not be surprised if Peru now completely locks the whole area to outsiders, and possibly over reacts to prevent people from accessing its cultural heritage.
As for your feelings of justice, I'm somewhat on board. It was highly illegal to enter those grounds under any conditions, and Greenpeace members did it precisely because they refused to respect such laws. Otherwise, it wouldn't make the news right?
Ohh, the half decade is way too long a sentence. I would suggest 30 days instead of 5 years. It's a Peruvian prison system, so those 30 days will seem like lifetimes, and most probably wouldn't survive as Peruvian prisons are managed and operated by the prisoners, not government staff. If we wanted to be lenient, it would be something like 3 days, and that's not a slap on the wrist. Even with 3 days, I'm pretty sure the guys will come out beaten and most likely raped within an inch of their lives. The women will be separated and off in a different facility, not even on the same grounds AFAIK.
I'd rather choose prison in North Korea, if I had a choice at all.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.