CFI has recently developed an association with the Alameda County Computer Resource Center (ACCRC) in Oakland. The ACCRC is contributing computers to CFI to send to Mindo, Ecuador to establish our Community Technology Center there. We are planning to open the technology center in the fall. Other classes being offered include: Agro-Forestry, Forestry Law of Ecuador, Botany and Biology of the Cloud Forest, Environmental Conservation Law of Ecuador, and Energy and the Environment. In addition CFI is working on a community garden in the town square and a Coop of Student Services. Interns and volunteers are needed. Contact jenny@cloudforest .org if you interested in learning more about CFI programs.
Mindo is the site of the Mindo Nambillo Protected Cloud Forest. It is also the proposed site of an oil pipeline sponsored by Kerr-McGee Energy (U.S.), Agip Oil (Italy), Alberta Energy Corporation (Canada), Repsol-YPF (Spain/Argentina) and Techint (Argentina). Chase Manhattan Corporation (U.S.) and the Deutche LandesBank are providing financing. There is a strong opposition to the pipeline within the country and rightly so. Not only is Mindo one of two sources of water for the capital city of Quito but also it is located on the Pichincha Volcano, which was very active just two years ago. Local activists recently suffered a temporary setback when a festival celebrating diversity was sabotaged. CFI is now working with the Rainforest Information Center, Amazonwatch, and Accion Mindo por la Vida to develop strategies to continue the resistance to the oil pipeline. A description of the struggle is available at the go- ecuador.com website or contact me for more information.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2001
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