This volcano blows.
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The debate over oil reserves in Ecuador's Yasuní National Park continues and, since conflicts between the financial and natural worlds rarely end in favor of the ecosystem, it might be a good time to practice using what Proust called "new eyes." Viewing the landscape of Ecuador not as resources waiting to be sold is a simple choice. Just as I suggested with Bolivia and all its lithium, we can decide to respect biodiversity more than stock portfolio diversity.
WATCH VIDEO: New Species of Frog Found in Ecuador
To help us along with those new eyes toward one particular South American nation, here are...
5 Cool Facts About Ecuador's Eco-System That Have Nothing to Do With Oil
1. Biodiversity...Big Time
According to Ecuador Explorer:
- The Ecuadorian Amazon represents just 2% of the whole basin but yet, is home to one-third of all the bird species in the entire Amazon region and 10% of all the tree species on earth.
- Over 24 tropical life zones are found in Ecuador including: mangrove swamp, dry tropical forest, tropical cloud forest, paramo, and tropical lowland rainforest.
- One hectare of lowland Ecuadorian rainforest can contain as many frog species as in all of North America; one tree can contain more ant species than in all of the British Isles combined; and of the world's known bird species (about 9,000), pint-sized Ecuador is home to over 1,500.
2. "Avenue of the Volcanoes"
This "avenue" is 325 kilometers long and features the highest active volcano in the world: Cotopaxi (photo above), which is 19,347 feet high and last erupted in 1940.
3. Galapagos Islands
Here's how Brian Merchant describes this unique archipelago of volcanic islands: "A spectacle of biodiversity, famed for strange birds like the blue-footed boobies and curious reptiles like the giant tortoise and the marine iguana. So much stunning life, that Darwin was inspired to create the most substantial theory of how it all fits together ever produced."
4. Home to a Newly Discovered Species of Gecko
Small enough to rest comfortably on the eraser of a pencil, this gecko is not planning to shill for a car insurance company any time soon.
5. Eco-System Rights
In 2008, Ecuador became the first nation to declare nature has constitutional rights and is thus "not just an object to be appropriated and exploited by people, but is rather a rights-bearing entity that should be treated with parity under the law."
Links to Help Unlock Ecuador
Is Eco-Tourism a Contradiction in Terms? Not When You Consider the Alternatives
Yachana Lodge: Training Amazon Youth in Eco- tourism
Ecuador Moves Forward with Plan to Not Drill the Amazon in Exchange of Funds
Why the World Should Pay Ecuador to Keep its Oil in the Ground
