Chaiten Volcano Begins to Spew Ash (But Don’t Blame Environmentalists)

The New York Times reports that thousands of people are being evacuated from the area south of Santiago, Chile as the Chaiten volcano, dormant for two thousand years, is beginning to spew ash. Even if the activity stops here, the environmental and agricultural impact will be significant:

About 25,000 head of cattle and sheep are at imminent risk of dying, eating plants and drinking water contaminated by volcanic ash. The navy has shipped feed, and the government is beginning to evacuate some cattle from the area, but many are expected to die. Some civil engineers said they believed that the soil and plant life in the area may not recover for several decades, if at all.

“The soil in the area covered by this volume of ash deposits will be practically lost,” said Wilfredo Vera, engineer from the University of Chile. He told a Chilean radio station that “agricultural production will be virtually nil.”

When I lived in Santiago, residents were always hyper-aware of early signs of a natural occurrence of a different nature: earthquakes. Sure volcanoes were all around us, but like the article said, they were more a part of the static, not active, landscape.

If I were Colin Flaherty and had “ecophobia” as he calls it, I might be tempted to somehow pin this event on environmentalists. In a guest article in the Hernando Today (thanks, Heather, for the heads up) Flaherty explains his new disease:

I imagine environmentalists creating catastrophes all the time all over the world. I see great floods, famine, disease and death and behind each is the same thing: A grinning environmentalist reveling in the mayhem as if it were magic.

I read the entire article and honestly couldn’t decide if Flaherty’s tongue was in his cheek or not. Since he then uses the term “eco-freaks,” I’m guessing not. What do you think of Flaherty’s assessment?