Rhinos the Rainforest and the Chinese government.

Share

I am a humanitarian.  I do not believe in capital punishment or taking any life in any way.

But rhino poaching is now another war - financed by the Chinese government itself.

Did you see National Geographic "Wildlife Detectives" regarding this issue?  

The Chinese government financed three high-level bureaucrats to issue a "call order" on all Rhino horns, far greater than consumption.  Armed with a hidden camera, the wildlife detective posed as a horn trader and visited a warehouse filled with Rhino horns. 

The objective is that killing Rhinos to extinction drives up the price on the last remaining stockpile!  All financed by the Chinese government itself!

This year the number of poached rhinos is already double the previous annual record.   Rhino poaching now requires serious and immediate diplomatic and financial pressure. 

The Chinese are banking on the concept that Africa and the West will not take economic hits in the current downturn. Without threat of economic sanctions, China’s poachers are literally running wild. 

Permission requested - Education world

First off, kick out all Chinese corporations and their Malaysian rainforest extraction companies out of Africa – that will put the economic hurts on China and help them understand the World will not tolerate their exploitation from labor to rainforest to wildlife.

I know that’s draconian, but it’s the only thing that works.  It will force the good guys (if there are any) to pressure the bad guys.

Rhino poaching will not stop until the Chinese take these issues seriously.  If it hurts economically, so be it.  Rhinos are just the apex issue – even local laborers understand the Chinese objective is to exploit Africa until there are no more resources to exploit. 

If poachers use helicopters, use your military to shoot them down.  Confiscate them on the ground so they can’t fly in the first place.  Use your national army to engage in live fire military exercises to stop the poachers.  Develop cross border treaties and hunt down poachers.  Pass laws giving life in prison - and if necessary - Shoot the Bastards! 

As a pacifist I would rather live with rhinos than the poachers.

See you on the water,

Ling Yai (Thai for 'Big Monkey')  AKA John Caveman Gray

             

TurnOffFox campaign - it is not news.

Share

All thinking people already know that Fox News is biased -- but it's actually much worse than that. For years they have used lies, distortions, and race-baiting to divide Ameirca and the World. 

It's now downright dangerous. Earlier this summer, a heavily armed man got into a gun fight with police after he was pulled over on his way to kill people at the Tides Foundation -- an obscure non-profit that Glenn Beck regularly demonizes on his Fox News TV show.

Fox News is bad news not only for America, but the World. I'm a journalist, and they do not follow the truth, the crusade of every professional journalist. The lunatic fringe listens to them only because Fox addicts are mentally unstable. The venom spreads, and is legitimized through TVs in public places. 

FOX is so bad, so irresponsible that I've joined the TurnOffFox campaign -- the first part of a larger campaign to diminish the influence of Fox.

It's about educating people to support truth in journalism.

See you on the water,

Ling Yai (Thai for 'Big Monkey')  AKA John Caveman Gray

             

Sustainable Development - more Politicians

Share

Permission requested - click here

Sustainable Development is the latest buzzword.  Like "Ecotourism" the term was viable for the first 15 seconds.  Today hotels claim to be Ecotourism and support NGOs and licensing agencies perpetuate the folly because hotels pay more membership fees and donations than real Ecotourism companies ("real Ecotourism" by original definition must be High Quality, Low Volume Nature-Based activities i.e., there isn't much money in it.)

Once we agree on whatever sustainable development is, certification without trade union intervention can be a good thing.  We DO need sustainable forest and jungles, especially in Central Africa, the Amazon Basin and SE Asia where Chinese exploitation is (again) killing Mother Earth's lungs.

However, just like Ecotourism, Sustainable Development is easily twisted into counter-productivity.  The EU passed a law requiring 15% of all EU petrol should be ethanol - and immediately doomed Orangutan, one of our closest relatives.  The unchecked SE Asia forest fires of the late 90's cleared jungle habitat for Palm Oil.  While Malaysian timber companies dominate rainforest extraction (even if it is Chinese driven), both Malaysia and Indonesia are responsible for the fires that suffocated SE Asia.  Now, Indonesian forestry companies - the ultimate in corruption and lack of conscience - are claiming their Palm oil products are "certified", spending a fraction of their profits on PR just to look good. 

Shame on the short-sighted EU for creating the problem in the first place.  Expensive 5-star hotel food is simply overpriced institutional food. The best hotel chef I ever met resigned his luxury assignment when the famous hotel chain chose to look the other way at dangerous drinking water quality, and GM’s turn off their sewage treatment plants as soon as the Green Globe inspectors depart the premises.  Same happens in forestry.

Anytime you see Big Money claiming to be Sustainable, Eco, or Ecotourism - either at the source or the buyer - don't believe it, and don’t buy it. 

See you on the water,

Ling Yai (Thai for 'Big Monkey')  AKA John Caveman Gray

             

Welcome Home to some...........

Share

I asked John for his words for this and what did he tell me -

"I cry in movies, but I had to take a shower after watching this - unbelievable!"

"As joyous as this is, we cannot forget those who did not come home, American, NATO, Iraqi and Afghan. And we cannot forget the women in both countries who remain subjugated by disgraceful doctrine."

"And we can never forget that George Bush, the worst president in American history, made this all happen in the first place - and his sidekick the black-hearted Dick Cheney manipulated and tarnished the American dream so his company Halliburton could make money. 

Welcome home to all the men and women who did make it back!"

Then John told me another story

When I was five years old, my Mother told me,

"Little Johnnie, you were born in the Year of the Monkey before the Bomb. 

American came out of WWII as the reigning World Power.

Egypt was the World power for 2,000 years.

The Greeks for 500.

The Romans for 1,500 years.

The Frogs, Brits and Spanish for 500 years each.

America will be the World Power for only 50 years."

How did she know, George Bush wasn't even born yet!

This is a true story!

See you on the water,

Ling Yai (Thai for 'Big Monkey')  AKA John Caveman Gray

             

Sharks and Chinese Weddings

Share

As many as 40 sharks are killed for a Chinese Wedding - apparently this is a tradition.  I am shocked by this travesty and that it still goes on.

What is even more painful for me is that the people are surrounded by the bleeding carcasses and they are still smiling - don't even talk to me about shark fin soup!

See you on the water,

Ling Yai (Thai for 'Big Monkey')  AKA John Caveman Gray

John could not describe his anger at this abuse of an animal for it's fin simply to show that the family is wealthy and respectful!!! 

We have found a quote from a CBC news article: 

More than 38 million sharks are killed each year just for their fins, according to Nickolas Dulvy, an expert in marine biodiversity and conservation at Simon Fraser University. “They just cannot reproduce fast enough to replace the numbers that are being killed routinely, daily by fisheries around the world,” said Dulvy.

             

The ocean - man's garbage site - Part 2

Share

Phuket is not immune from this Mid-Pacific gyre we are the apex of plastic marine rubbish collections.  Just out of Phuket Harbor, where harbor-mouth currents intersect with the speedboat lane to Phi-Phi lays a giant mass gyre.  A Khun ying who went kayaking with me timed 20 minutes for our fast boat to traverse the mass of plasticized muck.

When I arrived from Hawai'i in 1989, I was so tuned in from Alohaland the junk jumped out of the water into my kayak.  To date, 8,531 large rubbish bags have jumped from Phang Nga Bay into my kayak.  

For all the PR and hoopla, I never saw one piece of rubbish pass before the CNN cameras.  When I emailed Plastiki and asked how much rubbish they collected, they never replied.

The only places I know of today without marine garbage are Hawai'i and Puerto Princesa. Somehow, residents just beam pelagic rubbish from their shores.  In the process, these two clean seas demonstrate that with the will and proper habits, we can make a difference.  

Permission requested - Earth Rights Instituite

We are advanced enough to develop the means to 

destroy our Mother Earth, 

but are we intelligent enough to save her? 

See you on the water (with a full bag of plastic rubbish),

Ling Yai (Thai for 'Big Monkey')  AKA John Caveman Gray