Dylan Baddour
@dylanbaddour.bsky.social
1.1K followers 320 following 120 posts
Covering Texas for Inside Climate News. Previously reporting from Colombia for WSJ, WaPo, Atlantic, Reuters y más. TX born. Likes plants
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“Do you know why there are so many gas stations here?” asked my taxi driver in the Colombian Amazon

Half the gas goes to vehicles, he said. The rest goes to make cocaine

Coca leaves soak in gasoline to extract cocaine for sale abroad. Coca cultivation drives deforestation & violence in the Amazon
“Water is worth more than copper.”

A sign near the site of a proposed new copper mine at the edge of the Amazon Basin in Mocoa, Colombia
“Asadito de cuy” in Villa Garzón, Colombia, at the Amazonian foot of the great Andean highlands
Reposted by Dylan Baddour
Actually I’m totally wrong. These are chontaduras. BUT THEY LOOK A LOT LIKE TREE TOMATOES
Apparently coca cultivation in the area is currently larger than ever. Good job crop dusters
Did you know? This tropical fruit is called a “tree tomato” (“tomate de árbol”). Pictured at the plaza de mercado of Macao.
The copper discovery is fairly news, about 5 years old. Soon the world will know! I’m fighting the feelings to abandon my life and live here forever
Reposted by Dylan Baddour
“We have to decide if we want to be an Andino-Amazonian territory or if we want to be a mining territory.”

“The copper will go to sustain the lifestyles of the northern countries, as always, at the expense of wellbeing in the southern countries.”
“No mega-mining”

A mural in Mocoa, Colombia, near the site of a large proposed copper mine
“Water is worth more than copper”
Reposted by Dylan Baddour
“They put this word ‘poor’ in us. Whoever smells like mud or sweat is poor. I believed I was poor.”

“They said we must leave inheritance for our children. But real inheritance is knowledge. Of the fruit and the fish and how to care for your body.”

“Humanity is about to fall.”
“People from the outside don’t understand the importance this has… for them it is just a mountain.”

“For us, the word ‘development’ means destruction and poverty.”

“We are weak to defend our territory but we continue anyway.”
“They put this word ‘poor’ in us. Whoever smells like mud or sweat is poor. I believed I was poor.”

“They said we must leave inheritance for our children. But real inheritance is knowledge. Of the fruit and the fish and how to care for your body.”

“Humanity is about to fall.”
“We have to decide if we want to be an Andino-Amazonian territory or if we want to be a mining territory.”

“The copper will go to sustain the lifestyles of the northern countries, as always, at the expense of wellbeing in the southern countries.”
Reposted by Dylan Baddour
From @dylanbaddour.bsky.social in 2024: “Many of the pieces of the puzzle have already been destroyed. This is all we have. This is our only window that’s left into this part of our history that’s not well understood. It’s our only chance to find out about ancestors.”
Defenders of the Delta: A Tribal Leader Fights for Ancestral Land in South Texas
Juan Mancias leads the Carrizo/Comecrudo, unrecognized and little-known, in a struggle against fossil fuels, SpaceX, and historical erasure.
www.texasobserver.org
“Don’t shoot your people.”

A shirt on the Indigenous Guard of Putumayo, Colombia
Hi from Mocoa, Colombia, where I’m reporting on oil drilling and copper mining in the Amazonian highlands
The Rio Caquetá flows from the Colombian Andes to the Amazon
Heading into the Colombian Amazon for some reporting