An Indonesian Shop Illegally Sells Endangered Species Out in the Open!

Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0610-kellogg-aceh-wildlife-trade.html#MCJRLHfgqG6VTCIk.99

Once again Earth Preservers turns to Mongabay.com, our favorite wildlife website, for a story about crimes being committed against endangered species.

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, in the Indian OceanAccording to this story, a variety of critically endangered species of wildlife are being openly sold at a shop on the island of Sumatra, which is part of the island nation of Indonesia.

An orangutan costs $200 and a leopard cat $25 to $50. In all, some 15 endangered species, all in cramped in cages, were on display one recent day. The shop pretends to be a zoo, but the writer of the Mongabay story found out the truth.

Still, his story is unlikely to make a difference. The animals are free to catch. The record is clear that police in Indonesia either don’t care or are accepting bribes to look the other way. After all, who really suffers?

Tell that to those animals for sale!

Oregon Legislature Passes Bill that Makes Eco-Activists ‘Terrorists’

For many years environmental activists in Oregon have protested against logging companies that legally cut down large swath of forests in that state. Sometimes protesters have climbed trees and sat up there for weeks or even months.

Oregon is a state in northwestern part of The United States.Apparently fed up over the expensive delays these eco-activists can cause, Oregon’s state legislature recently passed a law that reportedly would allow district attorneys “to charge these terrorists with a crime and make them accountable.”

Since forest protesters already are arrested when they exert what their supporters say is their right to free speech, the idea of passing new laws to do the same thing seems a little heavy-handed. The legislature seems intent on making eco-activists suffer financially for their acts, which in the past have included driving spikes in trees, thereby exposing workers to possible injury.

Nobody should ever get hurt as a result of a public protest. Still, the idea of equating terrorism with environmental activism seems, in Earth Preservers’ opinion, to be out-of-bounds. What do you think? For more, read this OregonLive story.

Italian Mafia & Environmental Crime

Italy (in dark green) is in Southern Europe

A news video reporting on the Italian government’s efforts to counter the Mafia’s growing involvement in environmental crime, especially waste hauling and disposal. This is a serious problem for the entire world, because the Mafia is illegally transporting large amounts of garbage to other countries such as China, where it is turned into inferior materials used by many different industries. What a mess!

RESIDENTS FIGHT TO GET THEIR STREETLIGHTS TURNED BACK ON

In Leicestershire County in England, officials decided to save energy and money by turning off the street lights along a busy section of road.

Now, as reported by the Leicester Mercury, there’s a petition going around to get the street lights turned back on.  Petitioners say that while saving energy and money is always a good idea, turning off street lights poses too great a safety and crime risk for pedestrians using the road.

While it looks like the lights will be turned back on in Leicestershire, we’ve got to ask:

Is it ever a good idea to turn off street lights in order to save energy and money?

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When Companies Commit Eco-Crimes, Should Their Top Execs Go to Prison?

“Crimes Against the Environment: Who Pays?” is the title of a provocative blog post by Alexandra Rengel, an international lawyer.

No matter how much damage a company causes by, for example, illegally dumping toxic waste or polluting the air, Ms. Rengel writes that “it is rare to hear of company executives going to prison for breach of environmental laws.”  Instead, their companies simply pay a fine, making environmental crime a cost of doing business -- in other words, no big deal.

With global environmental crime now estimated to cause a whopping $70 billion worth of damage every year, maybe it’s time for the top executives of giant corporations that are convicted of environmental crimes to be held personally responsible.

What do you think? 

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