Avatar is not just a fun blockbuster movie, but it contains some real messages. Particularly ones relevant to the rainforest.
However, as is the way of Hollywood, the points are made in broad strokes that will be missed by the main offenders and upset many major supporters of the forest! Western Industry is very, very rarely the bad guy when it comes to conservation. Indeed, the Leuser Ecosystem would not exist today if it were not for Exxon Mobil and the sponsorship they provided to Mike Griffiths in the 1980’s – and they still help Leuser to this day.
The big industrial companies are highly regulated, not just by their own governments but also by the governments of the countries in which they work. They need to be whiter than white and are constantly in receipt of blame for the actions of others.
The real bad guys are two types – the Western Consumers who create the demand and the unregulated companies. These companies are often family run and in western eyes corrupt. They are very single minded in their approach, rarely look to the long-term future and if there are laws and regulations blocking their path, consider these simply to be ways of increasing the cost of ‘licences’ to extract the resources they require, or build a road or a damn. And of course they wouldn’t dream of ‘wasting’ money by repairing the damage afterwards, but leave gaping wounds in the earth.
There are many tragic stories of native people who have lost their entire culture thanks to exploitation. One of the saddest is that of the Iban people of Sarawak, who maintained their way of life right up into the Eighties, still living in Longhouses in the forest although speaking fluent English (a legacy of the rule of the Brooke family) and being well educated. But the forests have gone from around them, there is nothing left and they have to go to the cities to find work as they cannot live in the traditional way without the forest. Avatar could almost be based on them, except the loggers won.
But don’t forget that the rainforests and natural resources of the world would not be over-exploited if it were not for the demand created by Western Consumers. Meranti or ‘Philippine Mahogany’ was widely used for squash court floors and is straight out of the rainforest. Palm oil is responsible for vast tracts of deforestation. The list is endless. Watch your consumption to save the rainforests and prevent the real life occurrences of Avatar….
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