Simon Wellinga treated us all to some examples of species being driven into extinction by the 'No one could ever own them all' mentality, but unfortunately, all his cases were 1-2 centuries old.
You'd probably hope that humanity had learned what happens when wild resources get exploited on a commercial scale. OK, we have to make exceptions for the fishing & logging industries (and parts of the orchid industry) because they're incapable of changing their attitudes. But how about the environmental-related industries ? Surely the Greens would avoid such catastrophic errors ? Check the following: http://www.biospectrumasia.com/content/080107MYS2636.asp A Malaysian company has started building a biofuel plant in Perak to convert the sap of the Nipah palm into export-quality ethanol for biofuels. The first production plant is due to come on-stream next year and has an annual capacity of 140 million gallons of ethanol. The company intends to build about 12 additional biofuel plants over the next five years. The Nipah palm is a low-growing shrub that is abundant in river mouths and tidal swamps in Malaysia & Indonesia ... currently there must be millions of them in the wild. Anyone want to bet how many Nipah Palms will remain in 20 years time ? Peter O'Byrne _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
