Greenpeace’s publicity stunt adjacent to the famous Nazca hummingbird geoglyph in Peru
Photo credit Thomas Reinecke/TV News
While Greenpeace does an excellent job highlighting to the world serious environmental issues, the organization seems to have seriously slipped up this time. During the night a group of Greenpeace activists entered the protected Nazca site and unfurled large yellow letters reading –
TIME
FOR CHANGE!
THE FUTURE IS RENEWABLE
GREENPEACE
The Guardian reports today Peru’s vice-minister for culture, Luis Jaime Castillo, as saying, “This has been done without any respect for our laws. It was done in the middle of the night. They went ahead and stepped on our hummingbird, and looking at the pictures we can see there’s very severe damage,” Castillo said. “Nobody can go on these lines without permission – not even the president of Peru!”
We agree, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that in April last year part of the Nazca geoglyphs were torn up by heavy machinery owned by a mining company which operates a limestone quarry in the area (please see our earlier feature Lines of Nazca damaged). The company responsible is reported as saying that they had upgraded their operation a few months earlier to produce construction material and, as their land is privately owned, they are free to operate on it as they wish. We would be interested to hear from Peru’s vice-minister for culture, Luis Jaime Castillo, how he feels about this mining activity and what steps have been taken to halt it.
Meanwhile Greenpeace has apologised for its latest publicity stunt but, “…last week [it] projected a message promoting solar energy on to Huayna Picchu, the mountain that overlooks the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, another protected archaeological site in Peru.” Greenpeace really should know better than to use heritage sites to promote its own agendas – no matter how worthy those agendas may be.
More here with video.
The Heritage Trust 
2 comments
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11/12/2014 at 9:39 am
Stephanie Stephenson
The Hum-ingbird vibrates. As does the Earth, in varying tones. Though I don’t see the ‘activists’ as desecrators of the NASCA site – I don’t condone their actions – they are dedicated to ‘peace’. They have vision, in so far as they see the future on its present path. Difficult choices are coming thick and fast after all the warning signs of the last half of the 20th Century. NASA shares that foresight, hence its activity in finding Earth Type planets. The same Disaster movies are broadcast repeatedly on some British Television Channels, one starring Michael Rennie. Incidentally, the CA (Ca) syllable is one of the five parts of the Soul. It is present in important words used all over the world. I understand it is difficult for large organisations to broach onto other’s turf. There is much wisdom being ignored. We need this planet, and any light shining in dark corners is helpful.
To add, the hummingbird is touching the ley-lines, to indicate the fault lines crossing the Earth, and humming. Noise.
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11/12/2014 at 5:39 pm
Kelly M
Perhaps I don’t “get it”…but with today’s tech, couldn’t they have just Photoshopped their message onto a high-res photo of the hummingbird? Did they really need to damage a heritage site to get their message across?
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