Sometimes I get really mad at Peruvians. It’s usually when I leave political science class. A lot of times it happens when we’re discussing the government’s use of funds. But most recently it had to do with their treatment of the environment.
There’s a river that runs through Cusco called Huatanay. It runs right by the Molino, and right by the neighborhood in San Jeronimo where we start going up the mountain to Conchacalla. It is hands down the dirtiest river I have ever seen in my life. It looks like a dump. It is absolutely full of every piece of trash imaginable. It’s a nasty color. It smells. It makes you want to vomit.
One day in political science class Carlos brought in a guy who I believe works with the municipality to talk about Peru’s environmental policy. Carlos is very proud of the fact that some of the “rights” included under the constitution of Peru (which has been rewritten more than 12 times since Peru became a Republic) are rights that protect the environment and animals. It sounds really wonderful and cutting-edge. Certainly a lot better than what we have in our own country, but unfortunately it’s not put into practice. The speaker went on and on about how great these laws are for the whole class. Afterwards is when I dove in.
I didn’t hold back. I asked what was being done. I asked why Huatanay was allowed to remain that way in a country with laws designed to protect the environment. I asked what kids were being taught in school. I asked why there weren’t recycling programs. The answers: there is no interest, there aren’t really any student groups like Greenthumb fighting to get things done, and that there has been pressure on the government to clean up Huatanay for years but it has never been done. That Peru doesn’t have the resources or technology for a recycling program.
And he’s right. The bigger issues here in Peru are putting food on the table, finding stable employment, trying to get an education in the country declared the worst in primary education, and in getting through university when the professors are on strike half of your college career. It’s hard to think about the environment when your only goal is to survive.
But I had still hoped for more out of Peruvians. And in reality they aren’t completely oblivious. Edson himself once mentioned wanting to have a tree planting day and I’ve talked with him multiple times about the lack of green space in the city (he blames the architects that design the parks here). Carlos talks about Huatanay every chance he gets on television. The laws for passage on the Inca trail are becoming stricter an effort to preserve Machu Picchu. (In exasperation, I was citing the rules in Machu Picchu and wondering how the Peruvians could have pride predominantly in the pieces of land that could generate profit.
What ended up being even more saddening for me than the lack of drive of Peruvians to fight to preserve the incredible beauty of their land was the ignorance of one of my classes on the abuses of the United States to the environment. She was for some reason defending the U.S. after the speaker had spoken of our contribution to global warming. She was unaware that we did not sign Kyoto. She was arguing that Peruvians contribute more to the destruction of this earth. I felt frustrated by her lack of knowledge and the fact that her questions were getting in the way of the pressure I was trying to put on the speaker.
Because of all of this, I am unbelievably grateful for what I have in the form of Greenthumb. Our little environmental club faces obstacles, challenges, and frustrations in Lexington, but we keep fighting. We see the need and we will make sacrifices to try to chip away at the damage we are doing to our Earth. If any of you are reading this, know that we are a powerful group and that we have an extremely noble cause. And any change we are able to make is going to help Peru, which is one of the places in the world most impacted by the changes caused by global warming. The same people chucking their chicha bags in the river are watching as all of the snow in their mountains dries up and their corn crops are ruined by later and later rainy seasons. My hope for Peru is that it will someday arrive in a place where the environment becomes more of a priority, but until then we will have to work individually and through groups like Greenthumb to make sure the people of the Andes don’t bear the brunt of the suffering and sink further into poverty.
Another time I was more shocked than mad. The subject was violence in the politics of Latin America. My professor began to talk about all of golpes del estado and military takeovers, guerillos, and terrorist organizations. Later he talked about what violence is to Latinos. He said that when Latin Americans can’t get what they want through the system legally, they will use force. He called violence a resource that they can always turn to. He even gave an example about a cause of his own and said he would use force if necessary to achieve his goal. Needless to say, it was a little disturbing to me, forever the idealist. But it’s certainly true in terms of history.
Later when I talked to Edson about it I got a different perspective. He was surprised that Carlos had used the word “resource”, but he said this idea was human nature. Violence is what happens when people can’t get their way peacefully. He cited the worker’s riots in Chicago and said that in some ways America had started it all… Latin Americans learn about those riots in school, but I can’t recall when I might have studied those riots. The Chicago fire gets more attention.
As I thought about violence in our own country, I realized that we may be a bit guiltier of using it as a resource than I’d realized. George Bush certainly seems to view it as a resource, and at times bypasses attempts to get what he wants peacefully or with the guidance of the United Nations.
So here I am with my frustrations at Peruvians that turn out to be frustrations at my own country and humans in general…
Sometimes I get really mad at Peruvians. But maybe I should direct the greater part of that anger back home.
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