Rainforest Destruction
Paul B3
Posts: 3,154
Did anyone watch Chris Packham 'In Search of the Lost Girl' on BBC2 last Sunday night?
The subject of the programme was Chris searching for a young female member of an indigenous nomadic group of hunter/gatherers in the jungles of Sumatra with whom he had contact with twenty years ago .
Eventually after many days/weeks of research and enquiries with surviving locals , she was found ; by now a mother of two/three children . Success story there then !
However , to me the most poignant and heartrending part of the filming was to witness the tremendous destruction of the native rainforest in that country .
An aerial view from a small aircraft showed clearly the demarcation line between virgin forest and the militarily regimented thousands of square miles of Palm Oil trees grown as a cash crop for distribution worldwide . The induced forest fires were clearly evident .
Indirectly , knowingly or unknowingly we are all responsible for this destruction .
Looking in our cupboard this morning , almost everything we consume or take for granted contains palm oil ; peanut butter , evaporated milk , nearly every biscuit , margarine , blended butters to name a few.
Upstairs in the bathroom , numerous skin creams , moisturisers etc. all contain this . We are all guilty .
I know there is probably nothing we as individuals can do , but it certainly makes me feel partially responsible and saddened for the catastophic loss of this planets bio-diversity .
Last edited: 31 January 2018 21:33:59
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It is a very real problem ... we had a conversation on the Forkers thread the other day about checking contents and avoiding palm oil ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I started to watch it Paul but got interrupted by chattering daughter and missed the end. Good to know that he found her alive, and with a new family ?.
I don't think a burden of guilt should be placed on the shoulders of the average consumers who didn't ask or want palm oil to be added to every product under the sun. Surely the blame lies with the big companies chasing profit at all costs.
I agree that the destruction of the rainforests is an ecological tragedy.
I agree the big companies will always do what is cheapest for them & give them the most profit. Consumer pressure can make a difference though if enough people are aware of it, it has worked before in other areas.
There is another side to this though, some of these countries governments say to the developed world "Who are you to preach to us,you chopped your forests down years ago, you have had the economic benefit why can't we?" In some areas we are beginning to pay people to preserve what they have to make wildlife pay but then some so called eco tourism does more harm than good.
There is no easy answer.
I had a Google this morning hollie and it seems that deforestation isn't all about palm oil.
Cattle farming for the supply of cheap beef to the USA, Russia and China... Logging for furniture production... Agriculture... Mining... Oil... Dams... are reasons listed on this site I came across.
http://www.rainforestconcern.org/rainforest_facts/why_are_they_being_destroyed/
And it's all been going on since before I was born.
I remember when I was at primary school in the early sixties we learned about the slash and burn technique in the Amazon region ... it was seen back then as a viable farming method.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As indeed it was, when carried out by small groups of indigenous people who understood their environment. A garden patch here or there, then allowed to regrow - the equivalent of lying fallow, to allow the soil to restore its resources.
Yes ... but we were being taught about it being done over vast areas .........
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I try and do my bit. If everyone did it would soon add up. With any luck, for example, the recent Blue Planet series and the views of all that plastic in oceans and in fish and other sea dwellers will provoke a movement to reduce plastics use.
As for palm oil, it isn't in my food. I don't buy processed foods. Cakes, biscuits etc are home made with local butter or rapeseed oil depending on the recipe. Don't eat Nutella or peanut butter or evaporated milk. Make my own curry pastes now and chutneys too.
Hadn't thought about toiletries but, for other reasons, have recently switched brands to one that is, coincidentally, free of it and other nasties.
I do agree we should all do our bit & it might help mitigate some of the destruction. I like to think that as I eat almost all my fresh fruit & veg from my Allotment for at least 7 months of the year & some things all through the year I am better than some. I collect my produce in a trug & a basket so no plastic wrapping there. We cook fresh every day too but I admit we do buy biscuits etc. Until it was highlighted never thought about microplastic in toothpaste before. I would love to only eat grass fed beef & lamb & organic Chicken & Pork but sometimes the cost & the availability makes that impossible.