Anyone who watched The Hungry Beast last night on ABC 1 will have seen this video about the ethics of drug production. I have to say it sure puts a different spin on the current challenges about rainforest destruction etc because you know that there is absolultely no way of tackling it. We can't boycott products we don't take, we can't target the manufacturers and in the case of the Columbian govt, it seems we can't target them either if the claims that they are corrupt are true.
DP was watching that, it's horrific isn't it.
I thought it was great they were trying to show people the impact they have just by taking what they think is '1 little pill' or '1 little line'.
It's a shame though, we all try and try and try to save water, recycle etc and theres not much point when forests are being destroyed for the drugs trade.
Yeah, it's difficult. Certainly not limited to Colombia either. I lived in Bolivia as a teenager, and the same goes on there. The DEA try to shut it down, but their economy is so boosted by coca growing that it's a tricky one to address.
I guess some stuff you CAN do is:
Although it's not locally made and therefore has some horrendous emissions tag, DO buy other products that support these economies. Coffee, for example, grows in almost identical conditions to coca. Buying South American fair trade coffee supplies a valid alternative to these farmers.
Buy brazil nuts - they can only be grown in these rainforest conditions, so again, proves to people that there IS another viable product that doesn't involve felling forest.
Buy anything else that supports their economy, which will in turn support their govt and make it less corrupt (when a govt controls all the state's money, they are liable to more coups or golpes as the money hungry lust after it, whereas if there is a viable economy beneath them, it is harder for these dictators to control it and be on the take. I forget where the ref is for this, and hope I have explained it reasonably well)
Good points Audax. It is certainly worth looking into alternatives. I love the show, DH reckons it's a 'little bit bull****' ROFL, but he still likes it because you don't get the all the spin that you do on commercial news programs and it takes a totally different approach.
I love the mix of BS and hard-hitting thought provoking reports. It's like the early days of the Chaser, only with less shenanigans. Everyone on that show will go a long way in media, I reckon.
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This puts a new spin on Environmental Rape...
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