On Wed, 01 Jan 2003 20:14:29 GMT, Wraith wrote:

You might want to rethink that, lest you contribute to the extinction
of the first feline species since the saber-tooth tiger.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor.../od_nm/lynx_dc

Cork bark is harvested repeatedly from the same tree. It doesn't kill
the tree when the remove the outer layer of cork bark.

Decrease in demand (because people THINK using real cork is bad for
the environment) is the cause of the problem in the article. Since
there is less demand, there is less profit in growing and harvesting
the cork bark. So the local people are clearing the forests to find
some other way to make money.


It's very common to THINK something is bad for the environment, only
to find out the opposite. There was a discussion on APD about
cardinal tetras. Someone said that they were being wiped out in the
wild due to over-fishing for the aquarium industry. In fact, the
opposite is true. Decreased demand resulted in the local people
needing to find some other way to make a buck, and so the natural
habitat was being destroyed. By buying cardinal tetras, you are
supporting sustainable taking of them from the wild, and therefore
providing some economic incentive for protecting their habitat.



Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua