. Sad to see the rapid loss of such an incredible forest, but it's not my country and never will be, so I must make peace with the freedom Cambodians have to destroy the last of the natural resources in order to fund endless trips to the local casino.
Even in Suriname illegal deforestation is happening by wood companies, where some of them aren't even registered. Earlier this year some were caught, but it's only a handful that gets caught. Even the authorities their hand are tied, because of corrupt individuals in "high" places. Really heartbreaking when I read those articles.
One of the good things about the Americas in general is that the population boom has only happened in the last several hundred years due to slavery and colonization. The wrongs of this are countless, but one good things is that before all the forests were destroyed, the concept of preservation and environmentalism had come into existence. In Asia, Europe, and Africa, they'd already cut the majority of their forests down long before the American content was even known.
Suriname's illegal logging problems will eventually catch up to it, but there is still time to save the forest there, but once it's lost it's nearly impossible to make a return.
That's what Joel and I keep reminding ourselves of. We probably wouldn't have existed the way we are or have met each other if it didn't happen. Yes, what happened was atrocious, but it's not as black and white as some debaters would like to have us to believe.
I hope that the money hungry corrupted ones will be stopped before it goes so far though.