Buggered if I know…

Blog Action Day aims to get everybody blogging about the environment today, 15 Oct.

So, something which caught my eye on TV the other day was that, apparently large areas of Borneo and Sumatra native forest is being clear-felled and burnt. Why? To plant palm crops for profit – to supply the increasing demand for palm oil in many sectors including the Bio-fuel sector. Apparently palm oil is represented in 10% of products on supermarket shelves in the UK.

Madness? Of course it is. And very bad news for Borneo’s orangutangs…

And, is this the reality of our systems of finance and capitalism being exported globally?

Who can blame China or Indonesia for wanting to live like the West does? But does this then mean corporations in these emerging countries will trade anything (humans, animals, or the environment) for the mighty dollar – just like corporations in the ‘first world’ have been ‘caught’ doing?

Reports from the ABC, BBC, WWF …