(PCM) A group of environmental activists from Greenpeace are now facing criminal charges after a publicity stunt has caused ruin to an ancient Peruvian monument.
The publicity stunt was put together by Greenpeace activists to bring attention to the issue of climate change across the world. In the stunt the activists entered scared ground in Peru to spell out a message that read “TIME FOR A CHANGE! The future is renewable. Greenpeace.”
The Peruvian government was horrified by the stunt, as it caused irrevocable damage to the 2,000 year old Nazca lines that were etched in the ground on the sacred plateau in Peru. The Nazca line (and now unfortunately the Greenpeace message) are only visible for nearby foothills and by plane. In fact the ground is so scared in Peru, it generally only used for Nazca ceremonial purposes and is incredibly fragile.
The area where the activists tread is somewhere where humans are not supposed to walk in order to continue to preserve the historic and scared site. The Peruvian government claims that by walking in the area, your footprint is going to last hundreds or even thousands of years. The line that the activists have destroyed is perhaps the most important and visible of all.
Everyone is in complete shock that an organization such as Greenpeace would destroy such a sacred area just for their own publicity. Greenpeace has since apologized to Peru for the stunt and the moral offense it may have caused. They are currently in talks to figure out some way to repair the damage that has been done.
Greenpeace says that they will not use the images from the Nazca Line stunt in any future publicity campaigns, but sadly it appears that the damage has already been done.
