- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Land redistribution

In Reply to: Raindeforestation posted by David on December 29, 1999 at 10:50:28:

: Something worth pointing out is that alot of the people who are cutting down trees in the rainforest are not multi-millionaire big business guys who eat babies on the weekend and are a part of the illuminati conspiracy against everything. Alot of the deforestation comes from an increasing population of people clearing land so they can have farms. Those villagers are trying to make ends meat out of what they have. Or would you rather them starve in order to save trees? I agree that we need to protect the rainforest as it is quite vital to this earth, I believe however that in order to do that we should teach these farmers more efficient land use. Right now they need to cut down acres of trees in order to farm their crops. If we could teach them to do it more efficiently we could save more trees while not shortchanging those natives.
: Do you find it odd that every industrialized country has national parks and protected forests?

Two points:

1. Cattle ranching is big business, and many poor/indigenous people are driven off their land, which they often utilize in sustainable, time-honored ways, to make way for the cattle;

2. It's true that many poor people are also forced to chop down trees to firewood and cropland. Consider that they are forced off the best agricultural land by large landholders and concentrated in the cities and their rural fringes, where they have no choice but to chop down the very trees which protect them from flooding. Should these people rise up and try to do something about this, as in Nicaragua, their reward is death by U.S. bullets and bombs. Muse on that whilst lounging in your favorite park.

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