Greenpeace has infuriated the Peruvian government by creating a large message near the Nazca Lines, one of the oldest and least understood antiquities in Peru.
The Nazca lines are thousands-year-old large-scale drawings of plants and animals that were etched into to the desert and are only visible from above. The environmental organization used large yellow cloth letters to write 鈥淭ime for Change! The Future is Renewable鈥 below one of the most famous drawings, of a hummingbird. They selected the site, about 280 miles south of the Peruvian capitol of Lima, because Lima was the site of this week鈥檚 conference.
According to the , Peruvian officials are looking to prevent the activists from leaving the country while the government file charges and against them for permanently damaging the fragile site.
Greenpeace has for the stunt. 鈥淲e fully understand that this looks bad,鈥 the group said in a statement. 鈥淩ather than relay an urgent message of hope and possibility to the leaders gathering at the Lima UN climate talks, we came across as careless and crass.鈥 Greenpeace also stated that it would cooperate in any investigation.
The Nazca Lines have suffered damage at the hands of many groups, including the Peruvian government itself. Officials built the Pan American Highway directly through the lines, carving an alligator right in half. They plan to expand the road in the next few years. In 2012, the Dakar Rally聽 right over the lines. And according to the , displaced communities have been making their homes over parts of the site.