If you can't fix it, don't break it
I’ve just read an article on the New Scientist estimating how long it takes for a rainforest to recover after destruction. The good news is that some parts of it can take as little as 65 years to come back to normal - that is, for some trees to grow, and some animal species to feel at home again. The bad news is that to come back to normal takes 4000 years. And that’s not even counting the extinct species - because extinction is forever.
This looks to me like a classic case of "if you can’t fix it, don’t break it.” If it takes 4000 years for a primary forest to come back to normal, we’re going to have to explain our actions to quite a few generations in the future.
This is why logging is illegal in many places - we know it can’t be fixed, and governments decide to protect some areas (though of course, it’s still not enough to really protect species or limit climate change). When these areas are logged illegally, irreparable damage is done. When that wood is sold in the EU, you and me are made unwilling accomplices of a destruction that can last for up to four millenia.
You can stop this. Please send a message to EU Commission President Barroso today, and ask him to do the right thing.
The picture above has been submitted by T h e C h a r l e s to our ForestLove group on flickr. Did you send a photo yet?
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Comments
Its hard to believe that there's actually a debate in Brussels about this. There are politicians (and industry lobbyists, naturally) who are seriously advocating a "pro lawlessness" position -- so that anybody who's logged timber illegally in the Third World can be rewarded for it in Europe. "Come sell your stolen stuff here!" reads the sign. No matter what harm it causes to the planet, and how morally bankrupt it looks.
Posted by: Eoin | August 15, 2008 2:47 PM
Speaking about saving the forest, I bought a set of stainless steel and another set of colored plastic chopsticks today because I thought it was the green thing to do. Less need to cut down bamboo, right?
Comments, anyone? I have a friend who manages a Japanese restaurant chain in Manila. I plan to recommend either the metal or plastic chopsticks if it makes good sense.
Norm
www.gogreen-minded.blogspot.com
Posted by: Norman Sison | August 16, 2008 5:12 PM