February 15, 2010

Inconsiderate and irresponsible rich people

The authority has given out an advisory that no open burning is allowed as the weather phenomena known as El Nino is expected to occur which will cause long drought and heat spell.

And what do I find 2km away across the river in fronting my house? Open burning!

Top picture is taken from the veranda of my house. It is zoomed in. Noticed the treeless hill. It used to be a jungle and the past 4 weeks or so, the area was abuzz with activities. Chainsaw revving and sound of trees being felled. See the ongoing burning?

Bottom picture also taken from the same vantage point but zoomed out. This is more or less 2km away, still the the size of the smoke is still considerable big, so imagine how big the fire is.



Why do I conclude this is the doing of rich people? Because only people with deep pocket can afford to hire excavator(s) to clear this significant acres of land.

I hazard a guess that the location is somewhere in Balikbata, Beaufort. From what is circulating, the people involved in the clearing is either planting Oil Palm, building a resort or housing area.

The surrounding area are densely wooded area, it hasn't rained for more than a month now, the weather is hot and dry, if the fire is big enough and hot enough, it will spread like wild fire. Another factor is it has been windy recently. We are in a valley, I suppose it is due to the circulation of air , hot air and cold air.

These people are going about to earn profits with scant consideration to the environment. That is the general attitude of plantation owners and developers. We have forestry laws, environmental laws etc. However, I see these people are getting away with their activities with impunity.

I remember that 25 years ago when I go to school and passed Beaufort town, I would see fog enveloping the town football field, even around my house, there was fog. These days, you only see them during prolonged rainy seasons.

On one hand, it is good to see all these development, it means we are progressing, it creates jobs. However, what annoys me is that these rich people, in order to have bigger profit margin, are willing to cut corners and they do it to the extreme. Come on, how rich do you have to be? Couldn't you leave something to the environment. Give something back. You can incorporate mother nature to your building specification or plantation outlay.

The developed countries have gone through this phase and they have paid the price for violating mother earth, flooding, land erosion etc and scientists in their countries have come up with solutions to reverse the effect. It's all documented in the internet. Why don't you learn from them and avoid going to the same direction as they had. Avoid making their mistakes. In the long run, it will be more beneficial to you.

Ultimately, as consumers, I think we know that a company is polluting the environment, we should boycott their product. Save our environment so that our future generations will not suffer for our sins.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the author. Just an update, 3rd day, still burning....

Anonymous said...

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/20/nation/5709329&sec=nation

Still burning

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...