SMS: Greenpeace blocked Indonesia palm oil shipments

Tue, 11/18/2008 10:16 AM  |  Reader's Forum

Things are getting out of hand. Even now all the facts are on the table and the threats to the environment and human kind are clear, yet still people keep going to destroy our planet. Stop it! NOW!

ILONA STOKER
Utrecht, the Netherlands

I support the Greenpeace protest against forest clearing in Indonesia!
We have to save our last forests !!!

THOMAS SCHEIBNER
Dresden, Germany

I agree with Greenpeace! Palm oil plantations are destroying our forests. Peat land is precious. It stores huge amounts of carbon gases, which are released when we clear the land to make way for palm oil plantations, contributing to climate change.

When global warming sets in, Indonesia (as an island state) will be one of the worst hit.  

Why can we not think in the long term, instead of only chasing short-term profits? In the end, the costs of climate change and the devastation it will cause will far exceed the profits made by large palm oil plantations.

Good luck Greenpeace with your courageous and important quest!

TEZZITA
Jakarta

Wasn’t it the Greens who pushed for biofuels in the first place? What has resulted? Higher food prices and a subsidized market. Woolly thinking at its worst.

STEVE
Jakarta

 

The clearing of Indonesian forests must be stopped. Please save this treasure. It is one of the last of its kind on our planet. And it must not be ruined by over-consumptive Western countries!

The forests are worth much more than palm oil. But the companies will only realize this once all the forests are gone.

I don’t want to use palm oil that destroys forests in my products!

KIM SCHOPPINK
Amsterdam

Unfortunately, actions like these are necessary to make everybody aware of what’s happening with the forests in Indonesia and elsewhere. So, go Greenpeace for this!

Hopefully legislation will be made to prevent further destruction of valuable forests.

MAARTJE BERKHOUT
Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 

I’m totally behind Greenpeace concerning their recent palm oil action. I know  palm oil exports are a big source of cash for your country but unless you have a real politic regarding deforestation, I’d rather not buy products containing palm oil.

ERIC
Paris

Deforestation for palm oil plantations must stop, as Greenpeace says. Now!

NOOR
Utrecht, the Netherlands

I definitely think forest clearing for palm oil plantations must stop immediately. Enough is enough!

HILDE
Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Conversion of forests to palm oil plantations is pushing Indonesia and the whole planet closer to more environmental disasters. Indonesia must stop forest conversion as soon as possible.

BEAU
Manila

Personally I am in favor of preserving what remains of our world forests and of reforesting (though I know that it takes years for trees to grow).

I am not sure that stopping tankers carrying palm oil and getting into skirmishes with government authorities is the answer to deforestation.

Palm oil companies will continue to enlarge their plantations as long as the government allows them to do so and as long as they can sell palm oil at a good price. Expecting businesses to regulate themselves is a nonstarter.

Only the government can regulate the management of natural forests. So, it makes more sense to find ways to influence the decision-making process at the government level.

First, if we are serious about the environment, we need to educate the public about the dangers of deforestation. Then, when it is time to lend our political support to potential leaders, we should find out their position on deforestation before we vote for them.  

Of course, politicians are well known for forgetting their promises once they are elected but still, requiring political leaders to state their position on deforestation might be a more promising step than blocking a tanker.  

How many Crude Palm Oil (CPO) shipments can Greenpeace afford to block and for how long?  A good leader, on the other hand, can effect real change.

MAPLE LEAF
Surabaya  

Speaking as a scientist, I think CPO is the best biofuel in the world. Greenpeace, maybe you are going in the wrong direction if you are stopping CPO shipments.

PAIDI
Jakarta

 

I was really surprised to see my home town, Dumai, appear in the local Singapore newspaper, The Straits Times.

What made me even more surprised was that the news item was about the action of my favorite NGO, Greenpeace!

This is fantastic! I’m glad that they are doing something to stop destruction. Dumai might not be well known, but the destruction of forest particularly by forest fires is felt across the region in Malaysia and Singapore.

This destruction seem to be a regular thing, something we can’t change even though it’s man-made. But now there’s hope! Well  done, Greenpeace! Keep up the good work! I hope you can solve our long-running problems!

WILLY
Singapore

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