Share The Seeds
General and Off Topic => General Discussion => Topic started by: Roze on November 11, 2015, 11:46:47 PM
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Indonesia's fires are truly out of control, with huge repercussions for the economy, climate and public health. It is almost certainly the greatest environmental disaster of the 21st century – so far. More than half the fires are burning on peatlands, which hold some of the highest quantities of carbon on Earth.
Indonesia’s tropical forests represent some of the most diverse habitats on the planet. The current fire outbreak adds to decades of existing deforestation by palm oil, timber and other agribusiness operators
Why is this happening? Indonesia’s forests have been fragmented for decades by timber and farming companies. Canals have been cut through the peat to drain and dry it. Plantation companies move in to destroy what remains of the forest to plant monocultures of pulpwood, timber and palm oil. The easiest way to clear the land is to torch it. Every year, this causes disasters. But in an extreme El Niño year like this one, we have a perfect formula for environmental catastrophe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nprXeIo6PI4
It should be on everyone’s front page. It is hard to convey the scale of this inferno, but here’s a comparison that might help: it is currently producing more carbon dioxide than the US economy. And in three weeks the fires have released more CO2 than the annual emissions of Germany!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBnbLJ5TzvE
ps: Some companies using palm oil have made visible efforts to reform their supply chains; but others seem to move more slowly and opaquely. Starbucks, PepsiCo and Kraft Heinz are examples. Don’t buy their products until you see results.
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This has been a problem where I am for a while now and I'm 1500 miles north of the fires. Things were really bad for about 2 weeks until the monsoon started, airports closed, govt issued warnings to stay indoors and wear surgical masks. Most days the air smelled like a combination of burned plastic and wood. We normally have this every year when they start burning but it haas never been this bad and the news here is saying they expect it to be worse next year.
It is a truly disgusting situation. :(
nobody
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If we put the money the legislation on emissions costs us in helping those people the fires would be history and there was more happy people on both sides and a happier environment.
Its actually very stupid that many people wont see that it doesnt matter WHERE it happens, it affects us all. So if we can help someone in this regard, we are helping ourselves.