[MPWG] addendum Re: Saving Plants That Save Lives

Fri Jan 4 07:48:06 CST 2008

 While I see your point, I don't think abandoning the rule of law will make things better.? For now, laws that encourage commerce are well-enforced, while laws that inhibit commerce are not.? But times have changed.? Laws uber-enabling commerce are based on a false reality where no forest is threatened, no resource is scarce, nothing has value in light of COMMON heritage, and global warming is a left-wing scam.? The people who nurture and protect plants are in fact not effective when faced with laws that enable commerce come hell or high water -- unless they can somehow slip under the radar and mind their own plot of ground in a bubble all their own.? That's very noble, we all hope and need for private property owners to be good stewards of the land.? Unfortunately, most people are not private property owners.? Owning land is not a prerequisite to caring about wildlife, or to needing wild resources -- and people who do not own land deserve assurance that society at large is protecting the common good now and for the future.? So we need laws to protect wild resources.? Voluntary policies and "codes of ethics" are even more unenforcible than actual laws -- especially in the business environment where good-old-friends networks run things. When "it's all about relationships," who wants to be the whistle blower and become an outcast from the inner circle?? I believe that instead of scoffing at unenforcible laws we need to seriously take on the challenge of how to enforce them.? We don't see it (yet) in the US, but in some underdeveloped nations the caring and nurturing stewards of the land are starting to become radicalized, taking up arms themselves to enforce laws the authorities can't or won't.? Surely, this is not an acceptable development.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Beyfuss <rlb14 at cornell.edu>
To: cafesombra at aol.com; MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org
Sent: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 4:22 pm
Subject: Re: [MPWG] addendum Re: Saving Plants That Save Lives

Laws don't protect plants, in fact laws protecting plants that are
completely unenforceable, as most plant laws are, only serve to make the
plants more valuable and do far more harm than good. Where is the
evidence that any law protecting any commercially used plant has actually
accomplished that goal??? People who nurture and use plants
protect them far more than any laws. 

At 03:55 PM 1/3/2008, cafesombra at aol.com wrote:

It's a crime that saving the plants that save lives is a voluntary
act, if you think you might want to, and allowing unrestricted trade of
unsustainable ingredients is protected by law.

Before anyone criticizes this sentence, yes there are laws
protecting plants.? Not enough, and not well enforced.?

-----Original Message-----

From: cafesombra at aol.com

To: MPWG at lists.plantconservation.org

Sent: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 3:45 pm

Subject: Re: Saving Plants That Save Lives

Hello,

"Unsustainable collection practices" (which we've been blaming
for years now) may be threatening / endangering plants.? But what
causes unsustainable collection?? Why are people pulling too many
plants out of the wild without implementing appropriate replanting and/or
protection measures?? Could it be that unsustainable contracting for
commercial ingredients is the culprit??? Business people,
especially the big users (I would say "players," if creating a
sustainable future were a game) can point the finger at collectors
'til the cowslip comes home.? But business people are the ones
paying the collectors.? Now that distribution and product placement
make it difficult if not impossible for all but the bigger players to get
into the commerce game, we can no longer say that consumers demand it so,
let's supply what the people want.? Consumers wander down the aisles
choosing from amongst what is there, and if one product disappears and
an! other replaces it, they still choose from what's there.? They
still tend to choose what is placed right in front of their faces, as all
informed business people know.? Imagine a world where no one can
find any non-organic products except by shunning the stores and going to
their local chemical factory farms to support the local underdogs. It's
not going to do your company any good to "give the people what they
want" if the environment is ruined and the source runs out in the
process -- unless you are in it for the quick return rather than the long
haul.

I may be preaching to the choir, assuming that signing up for an email
list affirms one's commitment to a sustainable future.? So, if
everyone on this list is already perfect, how do we reach those who do
not voluntarily choose to do the right thing?? Because that is what
we need to do.? It's a crime that saving the plants that save lives
is a voluntary act, if you think you might want to, and allowing
unrestricted trade of unsustainable ingredients is protected by law.

Jennifer?

www.herbalistswithoutborders.org 

-----Original Message-----

From: Olivia Kwong
<
plant at plantconservation.org>

To:

mpwg at lists.plantconservation.org

Sent: Thu, 3 Jan 2008 10:53 am

Subject: [MPWG] NEWS: Saving Plants That Save Lives

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080101202622.htm

Saving Plants That Save Lives

ScienceDaily (Jan. 1, 2008) - Poor or non-existent collection controls
are 

threatening the survival of many of the plant species used in traditional

and modern medicines. Some estimates indicate that 15,000 of the 50,000 -

70,000 plant species used for medicinal purposes and mostly collected
from 

the wild may be threatened, many as a direct result of unsustainable

collection practices.

See the link above for the full article.

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