A massive criminal timber cabal including elements of China's and Malaysia's government is liquidating the world's last ancient rainforests [more] for low cost forest products for the planet’s over-consumers. The basic biological elements of being are being transformed into consumer throw-away goods. This is not to suggest that European and American loggers have not pioneered the transnational industrial timber trade [search]. But the Asian timber mafia [search] differs in its ambition and scale of impact. Should industrial logging of ancient forests by these criminal companies, their distributors, customers and environmental apologists not be globally banned, humanity will be left with a much biologically diminished and ecologically depauperate planet. Those logging, buying the products and otherwise abetting the destruction of the world's last ancient forests are evil, selfish criminals. They are destroying the basis of creation for a relative pittance. Millions of years of evolutionary and ecological brilliance reduced to rubble to bring the consumer a cheap dinner table. This must be stopped. It must be stopped now. And it must be stopped at any cost and by any means. Or we are all going to suffer and then die as a species from lack of a biosphere.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 5:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

TAKE ACTION: Let the Ugandan President and Parliament know rainforests and their ecological services are more valuable than sugar and oil palm production

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is pursuing legally dubious plans to destroy much of Uganda's last few rainforests to grow palm oil and sugar cane crops. Uganda has long been facing a deforestation crisis, with forests covering 20 percent of Uganda 40 years ago, but now just covering seven percent. Loss of forest cover in Uganda has had devastating ecological impacts which will be intensified by the proposed projects. Deforestation has been directly responsible for declining levels of waters in Lake Victoria and the River Nile, resulting in a scarcity of drinking water and reduction in hydroelectric energy production. The whole matter seems to reflect a desperate power grab by the President to reward cronies under false and illusory promises of industrialization. The government has no legal mandate to give out constitutionally protected forest reserves to be cut down by private companies. Please contact President Yoweri Museveni, the entire Ugandan parliament, and Ugandan ministries and embassies and insist that these projects be abandoned, and Uganda's remaining rainforest strictly protected as ecological reserves while restoring forests where they historically occurred.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)