we talked about this in geology today. mostly the scientific junk, but our hippie of a teacher also mentioned, very pointedly, the socio-political aspects of this natural disaster.
IT comes down to the only way that these villages can get all te materialistic stuff that everyone else ahs is through selling their only resource the trees... You can say that they shouldn't modernise... why shouldn't they everyone else has, why should they miss out just because they come from a traditional subsistence rural culture... You can say that they should preserve their environment, but how should they support themselves? You can say they should stand up to the logging companies and defend there environement but is it worth it if they die? But what power and equity and freedom do such people have? This is an argument based on western developed, democratic sensibilities and does not work in developing, rural communities in South East Asian countries... People die for greed. Happens all the time and you can say that every war ever fought was the sacrifice at the alter of someone elses greed.
