Kayana Szymczak

Crude Reflections

Close up of oil seen in a rainforest stream after an old Texaco oil pipeline, now owned by Petro Ecuador, burst on the side of the road outside of Lago Agrio. This spill polluted the rainforest stream directly below the road, contaminating the main source of drinking, bathing, and cooking water of the local people. Living with the past and current existence of the oil industry - oil pipelines, disintegrating oil barrels, un-remediated oil spills, large open waste pits, flares, and physical diseases due to water source contamination - have become a part of daily life for people living throughout the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon region.
Close up of oil seen in a rainforest stream after an old Texaco oil pipeline, now owned by Petro Ecuador, burst on the side of the road outside of Lago Agrio. This spill polluted the rainforest stream directly below the road, contaminating the main source of drinking, bathing, and cooking water of the local people. Living with the past and current existence of the oil industry - oil pipelines, disintegrating oil barrels, un-remediated oil spills, large open waste pits, flares, and physical diseases due to water source contamination - have become a part of daily life for people living throughout the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon region.