Greenpeace protesters chaining themselves to the outside of a ship.https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10597731Forget about the protesters, haul up the anchor & sail with the protesters dangling for the whole voyage.
That said... having just returned from north-east Malaysian Borneo (ooh, aren't you the traveller), the level of destruction of rainforrest habitat in order to plant palm-oil plantations is absolutely disgraceful. In the few areas of rainforrest left on this island live several species of endangered animals, birds... the orang-utan being the most well known, but also amongst them the clouded leopard, the pigmy elephant, the proboscis monkey, the pangolin, the slow loris, the giant flying squirrel, the Malayan sunbear, the mousedeer to name a few. You can drive for five, six, seven hours on end, and all you will see are felled areas of rainforrest replaced by palm plantations. The wanton destruction of the habitat of several endangered animals for reckless proffit (and mostly by large multinational corporations, not for local industry before anyone raises that one) pisses me off, and I can understand why Greenpeace took the actions they did.
Level of destruction? Stats please - (% of rainforest remaining, % of representative habitat/ecosystems lost)
Presumably the fast loris got away in time and the slightly smaller flying squirrel as well.
Probably the only reason you can drive hours and see felled areas is because they've put in a road to fell the area.
Greenpeace are not exactly forthcoming with the truth so don't think that because their foot soldiers are young idealists, they will save the world from ourselves.
I think I'll go and fix myself a slab of greenhouse gas-rich protein from some ruminant that I've transported from the supermarket in my SUV... and wrapped up in a plastic bag or two.
To go back to the arguement... don't want it to look like I'm running away from it, just been busy the past day.
In 1990 palm oil plantations covered 1.7 million hecatres in Malaysia, increasing to 3.37 million hectares in 2002 (source WWF Malaysia). Figurees in Indonesia (predominantly Sumatra and Kalimantan) followed a similar pattern over the same time. In 1990, 1% of Sabah, the Northern-most state of Malaysian borneo, was used for palm oi, by 1998, this hadrisen to 11%, and deforrestation of the region still continues.
A map of the Sabah region of Borneo, the area of Borneo with the largest surviving population of wild orangutans, shows the extent of deforrestation and plantation: In the north of the country, large areas have been converted to plantation, with manily the mountainous South West, and some areas of new nature reserve in the South East being the last strongholds for the Orangutan (and other afore-mentioned species)
Fortunately, areas such as the lower Kinabatangan Reserve are a safe haven, even if they are fragmented 'islands' of forrest in the middle of vast plantations- not ideal for large mammals such as the orangutan, the Asian elephant (the pigmy elephant previously ridiculed by Frankie Mac), and the Malayan sunbear. Organisations such as the MESCOT programme are purchasing small areas to act as re-planted 'forrest bridges', and raising awareness of the plight of so many native and endangered animals and birds.
And finally, no, I am not a hippie. I have a regular job as a doctor, and as such believe in conventional medicine, including vaccinations. I wear shoes, and shower regularly. I eat meat, and cannot stand tofu. I feel the Green party hgave many valuable ideas, but lack a sound scientific understanding in many areas (however, this is not unique towards their party). however I am disturbed by the destruction of Earth and its species for the proffits of a few rich bastards.
Sorry, that almost turned into an AWB post.