freckles make me strong.

After receiving pledges totaling more than its goal of $100 million by a year-end deadline, the Ecuadorian government last week announced that it would move forward with the so-called Yasuni ITT Initiative, an innovative plan to leave untapped more than 900 million barrels of crude oil beneath a pristine Amazonian nature reserve, in exchange for annual international donations.

An interesting approach to preserving the rain forest and its tribes by getting international monetary support. Too often the arguments against deforestation are over simplified, not taking into account the dependency on oil revenue. Finally there is a proposal that offers the developing country something in return for the very real economic sacrifice they are making.