This morning, I received an email from a comrade at Greenpeace who passed along this New York Times article about logging and forest destruction in Indonesia:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/world/asia/06indo.html?_r=2
The article highlights tension between the environmental movement and profit-driven corporations. There is a fundamental difference between their worldviews. One views the forest as a living thing, a home and a habitat. Environmentalists measure the forests in terms of biomass, species populations and diversity. Logging companies see the forest as a “natural resource” which is measured in acres and board-feet of lumber.
The framing of ecosystems as “natural resources” is a fundamental problem with our relationship to nature. This perspective robs the forest of its intrinsic value as a living thing and a sacred part of creation. Economically speaking, the analysis of Sinar Mas, the timber company responsible for much of the questionable logging in Indonesia, undoubtedly excludes the value of ecosystem services like pollution filtration, CO2 sequestration / O2 production, wildlife habitat, and downwind rainfall, just to name a few. Even though the pulp industry will bring jobs to Indonesia, in the end it will rob the country of its natural heritage and is likely to have far-ranging environmental implications beyond the rainforest.
Reports by Greenpeace and similar organizations help us target our efforts by providing information on ecological destruction in crucial places where distance and government corruption or dysfunction often prevent us from having a good conception of the situation on the ground. The Hutan Project is proud to announce that we will be supporting Greenpeace with an ongoing monthly donation so that they can continue to bring light to the troubles facing our world. Keep checking the Hutan Project blog for news on Greenpeace, Orangutan Foundation International, Tech Networks of Boston, and our other partners.
This is so well said! The Indonesian forests that Sinar Mas is destroying really can’t be viewed in dollars and cents — how can you put a price on so many lives, human and non-human both?
Thanks for posting. As a Greenpeace organizer, I’m proud to have the Hutan Project as a partner. For anyone else reading about this, check out Greenpeace’s report on Sinar Mas at http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/reports4/how-sinar-mas-is-pulping-the-p. Check with Greenpeace’s web site to find out which American companies are buying palm oil from Sinar Mas — and then tell them to stop!!