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Peru Indignant After Greenpeace Damages Ancient Nazca Site
HughPickens.com writes 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."
Looks like them favoring will do anything to make their issue known ... everything, including ruining thousands-year-old world heritage site
We need a PETA vs Greenpeace death-by-irony cage fight.
"It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds." -Doc Holliday
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
more zionic nazi wmd on credit genocider s&m pr jump & spin from madison ave mossad dc annex... thirst for the truth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7BqFtyCRJc ..keep our heads? https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wmd+weather+media+censorship .. looking ahead; https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=free+world+energy
Turning off people who might otherwise agree with them. Instead, they just generate hatred.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
This is neither news for nerds or stuff that matters. Maybe, in order to make this relevant to the current state of the slashdot "audience", you should have invited Bennett Hasselton to write a 10,000 word essay before submitting the story, Tim.
The Aliens will never find out where to land now
Greenpeace has been, for quite some time now, nothing but a group lobbying for its self-interest, no matter its impact on the rest of us. I.e. they have become as despicable as the oil industry.
Perhaps them walking wouldn't have caused so much damage if they had reduced *their* carbon footprint by not stuffing their face with more than their fair share of food on the planet.
Silly sods. Greenpeace's whole ethos is to take the moral high ground against destructive activities of government and big business.
Well, their careless actions here have fucked that up big time. Once you throw away the "moral high ground", good luck getting it back.
So, here we have a nice example of something like Jon Stewart's "one mistake"... with all the willful environmental destruction in the world, this story of one admitted dreadful mistake by people who actually care deeply (for which the Greenpeace response -- as strong an apology as possible, while accepting that mere apology is insufficient -- is missing from the summary) becomes the story.... sad.
"There is no known technique to restore it the way it was."
not to be over simplistic or even the least bit forgiving against GP and this ridiculously stupid stunt, but perhaps they should look into a device called a "rake".'
it does wonders in sand traps for removing footprints...a different beast to be sure but come on..."no known technique"? :)
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
The Nazca lines are human made, as we all know Greenpeace doesn't care about humans. They only care about the "environment", even though they often oppose things that would in fact help protect the environment.
This is an overreaction. What we are seeing is a rare opportunity for a politician to accuse Greenpeace of overreach.
The ecological impact is no more significant than were someone to walk through the Nevada Black Sands and disturb wagon wheel tracks from the 1800s. The Hummingbird was not actually touched nor will it be impacted by the group's efforts.
The statements from the government are meant to prevent future uses of the land for political purposes. The statements from Greenpeace are diplomatically what's best, but, in reality, they know all this too.
"near the Nazca lines, ancient man-made designs" ... interesting how they go out of their way to let you know these "designs" are "man-made" ... just like if you were referring to Mount Rushmore you would naturally write something like "Today activists staged a protest at Mount Rushmore, a relatively recent man-made sculpture"
Can anyone explain to me why the so-called Millennial Generation is so goddamn rotten?
This destruction of archaeologically-significant formations in Peru is just the tip of the iceberg.
I used to think that the Boomers were the worst generation ever. But their offspring, the Millennials, are quickly exceeding the Boomers in terms of nastiness.
Just look at what they've done to San Francisco, Brooklyn, and numerous other places. They move into well established urban locales, drive up rents, and destroy the existing communities. Even the Boomers generally didn't do this, as they just built their own shitty suburbs.
The "hipster" culture that Millennials bring with them is absolutely toxic. They dress like morons, just to be "ironic". They have disgustingly large egos. They wear glasses without any lenses, for crying out loud. No sane person would do something that fucking dumb.
They've ruined the Internet, too. We can't go a single day now without somebody incorrectly calling somebody else "racist" or "sexist" or "misogynistic". They force censorship wherever they go, because according to them it's completely inappropriate for somebody to potentially read or hear something that might hurt their feelings, even if it's completely factual and correct.
We also see Millennials supporting the wrong side in incidents like Ferguson, where the thug who got shot chose to physically attack an armed police officer, for fuck's sake. That's a dumb as shit thing for anyone to do, regardless of skin color. And it's disgusting to see the Millennials then say it was okay for the thug to rob the convenience store, to rough up the clerk, and to then disrupt traffic. It's even more disgusting to see the Millennials then justify the subsequent rioting as acceptable, when clearly it is not.
Millennials have even started ruining open source projects, and entire Linux distros. Firefox, GNOME 3, systemd, and the forcing of systemd on to all Debian users are all the work of Millennials. They've managed to completely kill GNOME, and Firefox and Debian are on life support now.
In just a few years, Millennials have managed to cause more problems than any of the generations before them. And they're competing with the Baby Boomers! Yeah, that's just how fucking awful the Millennials are: they make the Boomers look respectable and responsible people!
They could have achieved the same thing with Photoshop.
Have gnu, will travel.
Or they could just kill themselves and everyone to save the planet.
Carbon emission wouldn't be an issue if the whole human population is reduced by 90%.
Embracing class warfare is a dangerous position, especially when it is apart from a transcendent moral ethic based in a religious tradition. Struggle without morality makes one a Marxist. Embracing Marxism makes one morally (and in various times and places judicially) guilty of the deaths of tens of millions of human beings during the twentieth century.
A college degree is not a license to interfere with the life, liberty and property of other human beings.
Maybe in 1000 years that will be the only which remains as a sign of human civilization. That, and the pyramids.
http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
That was environmentally freindly!
"its international executive director, Kumi Naidoo, flew to Lima to apologize"
Alternatively, "wasted a whole bunch of hydrocarbon-based fuel and Greenpeace money for the sake of apologizing in person for such a stupid stunt".
Of course, one of the biggest challenges for climate change activists is to convince developing countries in the southern hemisphere that they should not aspire to enjoy the same material comforts — cars, airplanes, air conditioning, et al — that have enlarged the carbon footprint of wealthier nations.
After condemning the group for barging "their way into one of Peru's most sensitive places for the sake of publicity.", the above appears.
I think there is bit of political posturing from the government there.
I think activists should understand that economics will take care of that particular problem, also. See, as countries develop, they will increase their demand of the resources necessary for living like an American; thereby increasing the prices of those resources. This current oil and gas boom is not only temporary but hasn't done much for energy prices - gas is cheaper but my gasoline is still well over $3/gallon, so do not think that energy will be at these prices for the long term.
So, to over simplify and keep things short, prices will increase, the First World will HAVE to adjust their way of life (there is no way around it) and developing countries will have to lower their expectations - for the general population. Which means, there will be less pollution and climate change because there will be less consumption over all as a result of prices increasing. And when you consider that most American's income is decreasing, that will also lower consumption and I really do not think it will be made up by developing countries - just a working hypothesis of mine.
Things WILL change - that is for certain and stunts like this just further polarizes things and make it more difficult to adjust for all of us.
Mebby if a few dozen super-entitled GP pervs were shot-down then the present ecology ... man-made and nature-made would be safer.
http://www.facebook.com/AsociacionMariaReiche/photos/a.352196254900127.1073741825.341434422642977/678386932281056/
That anythink you're complaining about the Millenials fucking up is directly the responsibility of the Boomers since they didn't not only didn't have time to raise us, but let us be told we couldn't be responsible nor self sufficient until we were adults. So you got a whole generation of children acting like children well into adulthood because you bunch of codgers fucked us all up because you couldn't be bothered to teach us, or avoid coddling us, or even properly learn from your parents (our grandparents, or in some cases great grandparents) examples and improve on what they did.
As a result you've got a whole generation of fuckups fighting against a previous generation of fuckups and pretty much having a fuckup circlejerk all around. Especially now that all the Great War survivors are losing out to Father Time's belt. You know, the age old parenting tool, until you Boomer fuckups decided we shouldn't use it anymore!
Now get off my lawn you smelly old bastards before I beat your ass with your own walk^H^H^H^Hsegway (Walkers are so gramma-y, gotta get with the times after all!)
http://www.latinamericanstudie...
I was hoping that the authorities were exaggerating, but looking at the pic on this page one can see that they aren't :-(
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
for the life of me, i don't understand why the author of this post would feel the need to remain anonymous.
it is logical, thoughtful, and sensitive...have things gotten so bad here on /. that people feel the need to hide any non-liberal commenting in the clock of an AC?
http://freedownloadsofts274.blogspot.com/
Ok so I still think this was very stupid but the complaint is they disturbed sand? How indignant is Peru when a wind storm comes through?
Green peace, Peta, and other "Groups" like them stopped being about the "issues" a long time ago and have since turned into ego trips for its members. It seems like a game for them to pull off the biggest stunt. Do they seriously think world leaders are "unaware" of renewable energy? Seriously?
That message wasn't for world leaders, it was a dick measuring contest with other activists.
A long time ago I might have supported organizations like Greenpeace and PETA on general principles, but the membership of both organizations have grown so outrageously batshit insane and arrogant that I feel differently now.
I feel like roasting a live cat over a pile of burning coal, frankly.
Way to win hearts and minds, idiots!
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
I don't give a fuck about Greenpeace or peru, but its hard to take these comments seriously...the only reason this is on slashdot is because it involves greenpeace and the fucktards here love to cry and pitch a fit when ever they are mentioned. you have pyramids being destroyed by developers and rainforests being cut down, but Jesus fuck, greenpeace wasn't there so no need to throw a tantrum like a little bitch. Maybe if Greenpeace caused the bp oil spill it might have actually got cleaned up.
He makes a bigger mess and never cleans up.
jr
bent on keeping the world in a Stone Age sort of existence. And then they blew up those ancient Buddha statues. The Taliban, that is.
Pretty much felt the same way about Greenpeace, and now they've defiled the Nazca lines. I'm for the same treatment for them that we gave the Taliban.
Did you get just as upset when the Taliban and ISIS blow up archeological sites as well?
I'm curious to see how far your anger reaches.
When there's a dark layer of soil on top of sand it's usually a macrobiotic crust, that has taken a few hundred years to do its thing - that is what they crushed as they walked. There's not much worse you can do as far as lasting ecological damage except for sawing down trees a few hundred years old...
They did also harm the aesthetics of the lines themselves.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What disturbes me the most oddly, is that it exactly sounds like a crazy, stupid idea marketing could come with to strike with awe other marketers (and annoy about everyone else).
I mean come on, GreenPeace? Thought they were the nice guys.
This is desert. It can take up to 250 years for the crust to regrow in the places where they have stepped. In the meantime, the loose soil below is subject to erosion.
Greenpeace seems to have the notion that the more obnoxious and arrogant you are, the more you can get people to agree with you.
Turning off people who might otherwise agree with them. Instead, they just generate hatred.
They're more like telemarketers. You eventually cave into their demands to make them go the hell away. At least that's the theory behind obnoxious and abusive marketing.
Or they could just kill themselves and everyone to save the planet.
Carbon emission wouldn't be an issue if the whole human population is reduced by 90%.
Actually, it'd still be an issue, since ~26% of the CO2 put into the atmosphere each year comes from the yearly brushfires in Africa.
for which the Greenpeace response -- as strong an apology as possible, while accepting that mere apology is insufficient -- is missing from the summary
To be entirely fair... the strongest possible apology would be to turn themselves in to the Peruvian authorities, and spend six years in a Peruvian prison, as martyrs to their cause.
Since money is not a license to interfere with life, liberty and the inability of other human beings to obtain property because you already lied, cheated, murdered, and/or stole to get the property you have today.
It's funny how often the rich try and claim a moral high ground, when if you go back far enough you find out their wealth was illicitly gained.
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.
First, the damage cannot be repaired. But second, Greenpeace has NOT issued a real apology. Their disgraceful excuse for an apology is here:
http://www.greenpeace.org/inte...
The obvious missing element is an apology for defacing a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Instead, they offer mere apologies for how things LOOK, and the typical "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" not-pology. Peru should throw all of the activists in Prison, and when the Executive Director shows up in Lima, lock him up too.
Meanwhile, as others have pointed out, the image of the message doesn't even look real in the first place, and they could have gotten the exact same image from Photoshop. Here's the worthless Greenpeace image:
http://www.iflscience.com/site...
And here's the damage the fuckers caused:
http://cdn.zmescience.com/wp-c...
Prison sentences for all.
those bush fires are started to clear the jungle/forest and create new farmland. And the reason they do that is... overpopulation. So yes, it wouldn't be an issue if the population is low.
This will probably not make it past moderation, since I refuse to register with Dice. Just like every other comment I have made on Slashdot since Dice bought it.
Anyway, enough of that rant.
It almost sounds like Peru is going to be declaring Greenpeace a terrorist organization - basically, they destroyed something for political gain and influencing others. Personally, ever since they temporarily supported the "Sea Shepherds" (A maritime terrorist group), I have considered Greenpeace to be a corporate sponsor of terrorists. The hypocrisy of that group is pretty jarring. They teach that a short half-life material is less radioactive than a long-half life material. They teach that it's okay to endanger others to further 'goals.'
Whatever you do, don't ask them about bitcoin.
Or have the slashdot commentators dwindled down to that of degenerates?
the ends justify the means, until they lose the moral high ground.
lose != loose
While I envy their goals, Greenpeace are nothing but a bunch of assholes whose antics are counterproductive. The court system is not the only way to go about protecting wildlife and the environment, I get that. But the inflammatory things they say and their repeated criminal actions not only make them incapable of affecting any meaningful change, but instead they galvanize those they accuse of wrongdoing and hurt the abilities of reasonable people to carry on the mission. Every time I see Greenpeace in the news I can't help but wish they'd just go away, so the rest of us might be able to talk some reason into the polluters and habitat destroyers of the world. With them present it is impossible to convince many on the wrong side of environmental issues, because Greenpeace are so needlessly combative and wrong-headed.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
®®Marxennials®®
They're at a high altitude, so they expand due to the low atmospheric pressure....
At the most, some dozen people or so were involved in this latest Greenpeace vandalism stunt, and you're using that to blame tens of millions of people. There have been obnoxious people in every generation since mankind evolved, and they have always been vastly outnumbered by decent people.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Here is a picture of the damaged Greenpeace caused. Basically, all of the lighter color in the red-marked area is where their footprints broke the crust.
Repair is, of course impossible. Serious financial consequences, plus criminal prosecution of all involved.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Greenpeace is not, and has NEVER been an environmental organization. From the very beginning, they have been a marketing organization abusing the public's sympathy to environmental concerns to suck up contributions that would otherwise have gone to people doing real work to improve the environment.
If you care about pollution, deforestation, preserving wildlife, etc, contribute to Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy, the Audubon Society, and your local environmental organizations.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I scrutinized the one in the article and couldn't discern anything out of place.
The stupid part was that this could actually have been done with little or no damage at all had the activist just followed some basic rules when dealing with the area.
1. No not walk in other's footsteps.
2. Wear the foot square pads on your feet to spread out your weight.
3. Do not bring cars to the site.
Had they done some basic research they may not have had a problem. The activists did note care about the damage they did.
From this post here are some interesting images.
The Damage. Those are new lines created by Greepeace. Notice the bright line to the left. That is where they drove their cars off the existing roads. I guess walking a bit is more important than preserving an international heritage site.
The Foorwear This is what they should have been wearing to visit the lines. It spread out the weight and causes less damage. They did the worst thing possible by walking in a line in regular shoes.
As far as i can tell everyone from your generation loved licking the NSA/CIA's/Rothschild/Rockerfellers anuses.
In fact your generation has done more to ensure we end up on a 1984 path than any other generation (with the exception of Woodrow's circa 1913)
I'd take a nasty hipster generation that has pure freedom and is enlightened about the totalitarian USA than another angry old motherfucker such as yourself who thinks they have the answers to society's problems (An extremely common theme in your butthurt generation).
How about you just commit suicide? Seriously, kill yourself.
The damage has probably been exaggerated.
Remember that this site has survived for 1500 years without government protection.
I'm not saying that this site should be open to the public. I definitely don't want hordes of tourists walking on it. Anyone who has visited Chichen Itza, Machu Pichu or Tikal knows what I mean. But do you really think that twenty people, most of them wearing running shoes (check 0:50 on the youtube video), will do that much damage? Hey slashdot, we are supposed to be the techies. How about getting before and after images and doing some digital image correlation.
I doubt there was any real damage to the site. The government is doing the right thing discouraging future visits. And Greenpeace definitely eff'd up from the public relations standpoint.
Or they could just kill themselves and everyone to save the planet.
I am reminded of the fortune-file entry "/earth is 98% full. Please delete anyone you can."
those bush fires are started to clear the jungle/forest and create new farmland. And the reason they do that is... overpopulation. So yes, it wouldn't be an issue if the population is low.
Awfully accommodating of the lightning gods to clear farmland... since almost all of them are started by lightning.
Haven't they heard of Photoshop?
This is the same government that allowed the building of a highway right through several of the figures. This is also the government that allowed mining so close the these figures that some of them have been damaged as a result. Not to mention the 2012 Dakar rally which caused irreversible damage to some of the figures. And they're complaining about a few footprints?
Hell, I'm not saying that what Greenpeace did was right. Those buggers should be arrested if you ask me, but the Peruvian government has done and/or allowed for far more damage to be done to these lines than Greenpeace. Just saying.
They have sequestered carbon in their bodies. Nothing wrong in that.
Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
Our culture has evolved over thousands of years. There is a reason things are the way they are, and you don't get to start throwing away well established cultural norms just for the sake of change.
You seem to have the idea that evolution represents a forward march of progress, but that it should have stopped thirty years ago (when you were last comfortable with it). These ideas seem to conflict with each other.
Because forums are for discussions and conversations. People can communicate ideas and get responses. Millennial's use of social media is solely about inflating their egos. They use things like Instagram and Twitter where they sprout their useless opinions, never once listening to anyone but themselves. Ever seen a group of Millennials at the mall? They're all on their damned phones, taking pictures and posting them to social media, barely interacting with each other. Older generations use Facebook to communicate, Millennials use it to keep everyone updated about their meaningless lives, never once listening to anyone else. It's all about them, their selfies, and generating "likes."
Every generation that has experienced new media forms has complained about them, and the new cultural norms that have resulted from their use. I don't know what you think you're adding to anyone's life by being upset about this.
This is not a new issue; this is not a Millenial invention.
Weird how this has never come up before in my life until Millennials started getting involved in politics. Try asking if a man should be allowed in the lady's room twenty years ago and no one would understand why the hell you'd even ask that question.
Human biology does not necessitate having different facilities for different genders' waste elimination. Almost all households don't bother with it. That they exist in public is purely a social phenomenon. We had separate facilities for blacks, too, at one point. There are biological differences between the sexes, but those don't necessarily correlate strongly to gender identity. Biology doesn't have the neat divide between these things that you imagine there is. One hopes that eventually humans will stop confusing pooping with having anything to do with either sex or gender. (It will still be polite to leave the seat down).
Myself, I have a measure of compassion for the poor bastard who has to make a Sophie's choice whenever they want to take a shit in public. I wish I could convey to you the terror and shame that this situation involves for differently gendered people.
You have to consider that there is no cure for "feeling like a woman". In all sincerity, it's wonderful that you've never felt like you had the wrong body. Having your brain tell you that your body is wrong in some way is a continual torment. Faced with the options of self-mutilation and a lifetime of social consequences, or a lifetime of body dysphoria, many people choose death.
It is easier and cheaper not to cater to the physically handicapped. Yet we build ramps and elevators, we put braille on signs, we allow service animals practically everywhere, and we accept that it is reasonable for these accommodations to be made -- that people with disabilities have a right to the same quality of life as anyone else. In this case the only accommodation being asked is being able to use a public bathroom in peace, although it would be great if we could work on not publicly humiliating these people as well. If our society is getting to the point of having to discuss transgender rights, that can only be a good thing.
There is one piece of good news for you: no one is seeking to abolish your freedom to be a bigot. What you're noticing is simply that most people are not sufficiently misanthropic to perpetuate your views.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
If Greenpeace were the good guys rather than the bad guys, they wouldn't be fighting to keep golden rice off the market when it has the potential to save some of the millions of kid's lives lost on a regular basis to vitamin A deficiencies in the third world.
I guess to them kids going blind and dying is a small price to pay so that some spoiled yuppie in Whole Foods can feel a little less worried that "maybe this latest technology for producing food might cause a few extra cases of cancer or something even though it isn't proven or anything like that". Fuck you, Greenpeace, you kid-killers.
Got me beat.
If a neighborhood is in decline, with businesses leaving or going bankrupt, and new businesses (if any) being ones like payday loans and pawnshops, and residences deteriorate, unsurprisingly, rents and real estate values go down. It is called a name like "urban decay" or "urban blight", and it's a bad thing.
If people reverse the process -- fixing up existing buildings or replacing them, starting new businesses that create a lot of value for their customers -- unsurprisingly, rents and real estate values go up. it's called "gentrification" and it's a bad thing.
By a lot of the same people.
I guess some people just don't like change.
And they call other people "conservative". Go figure.
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
Fine them, Greenpeace is just a terrorist organization , no sympathy for their cause, they do more damage than good, risk lives on both sides of the issues and here they destroyed an ancient landmark for a BILLBOARD??? What idiots, fine them a few million bucks and maybe they will become accountable for their actions, they are always swift to advocate fining businesses that oppose them, time for them to have some of their own medicine.