adoucette
22nd January 2011 - 02:41 PM
It tends to be a local problem and the locals have the most influence on the outcome, but there are external forces that can have an effect and thus intelligent consumers need to be aware that their buying decisons can have an effect on the global ecology.
To that end understanding where things you buy come from is important.
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/1023.htmOf course you have to be smart about this.
For instance, do you buy only wine with synthetic corks to save the endangered cork trees?
Well then you are only hurting the people who make a living harvesting cork, because when you harvest cork (~70% of which goes to the wine industry), the trees aren't cut down.
In fact, according to the WWF, harvesting cork out of a cork tree is "one of the most environmentally-friendly harvesting processes in the world,"
Arthur