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While the extremist environmental group known as GreenPeace has gone to great lengths to harass whaling vessels with rubber rafts and chain themselves to trees in the rain forest in order to protest what they consider to be the destruction of the planet, they don’t seem to mind personally destroying cultural treasures.
GlobalPost.com reports that on Wednesday, Greenpeace apologized all over themselves to the Peruvian government for damaging one of their cultural treasures in a campaign to fight (fictional) global warming (pictured above):
“Environmental group Greenpeace apologized Wednesday after Peru accused it of damaging a millenia-old archaeological site when its activists displayed a protest banner there calling for action on climate change.
“The stunt at the ancient Nazca lines, enormous drawings etched in the earth some 2,000 years ago by a pre-Inca civilization, drew a furious reaction from Peru, which is currently hosting UN talks aimed at curbing global warming.
“Greenpeace set up large letters beside one of the designs, known as the Hummingbird, reading: “Time for change! The future is renewable.”
Peruvian officials considered Greenpeace’s actions as an “attack” and have gone so far as to ask for help in apprehending those individuals who have damaged the historical site:
“Describing the action as an “attack,” the Peruvian government said the site had been damaged and vowed to prosecute those responsible.
“After the illegal, premeditated action by environmental defense group Greenpeace, the zone has been seriously affected,” the culture ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
It called on Peruvians to “collaborate in identifying the people who carried out this attack on the cultural heritage of all Peruvians and all humanity” and said those responsible must be “stopped from leaving the country.“
Needless to say, the Peruvian government has rejected the apology.
