Social Responsibility and Tokenism

Dear Editor,
I have been watching the Prime Time News on NTV7 on a regular basis ( 8 pm), and I have observed a short advertisement on the felling of trees. The short clip first shows a screen full of trees, and they are being 'felled' to the sound of chainsaws, until only a single tree is left standing. The punchline came.. " What will we do when all the trees are gone?"

It's great to have programs that raise the public's awareness of our social responsibilities, and the things they do that destroy the environment and the Earth, leaving nothing for our future generations. However, I think this TV clip is directed at the wrong audiences. To be frank, what good can we do, even if we made aware of the plight of the diminishing forests? We can stop buying wooden furniture, not have wooden floors and houses, and try to plant some trees wherever we can find some space. But who is solely responsible for the felling of trees and the destruction of Primary and virgin forests around the world. The main culprits must be the timber corporations and the large plantation owners.Timber companies, for example, in order to survive MUST increase or at least maintain profits from their primary businesses each year, and that means they MUST continue to obtain new forest concessions and new trees to fell. Not doing so, would mean the certain demise of their companies. Likewise, plantation owners who must also continue to grow more crops and food for the world. Sustainable forest development to me, is just a dirty word. There is never an adequate replacement for a 100 year old tree, that has been cut down in less than 10 minutes.

So, my point is, what is the reason for showing that clip on TV? The only way we can prevent the punchline from happening ie "What will we do when all the trees are gone" is to STOP ISSUING ANY MORE APPROVALS FOR TIMBER CONCESSIONS, AND HAVE THE UNITED NATIONS PROTECT THE JUNGLES IN BORNEO AND THA AMAZON. Anything less than that will make all these 'shows' and 'statements' a symbol of sycophantic tokenism..

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/2/focus/4631437&sec=focus

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=37571