To: Multiple recipients of list AROID-L
cc:
Subject: CITES protection of the environment.
I think that Tim's attitude is one that is highly dependent on a blind
belief
that government regulation is effective in protecting the environment. It
is
also contingent on a belief that the CITES committee knows more about the
plant population of the world than the people and countries in which the
plants grow. Many of their listings are highly speculative, politically
motivated, and not very informed. While I am in favor of environmental
protection, I would not presume to know if we (mankind) should stop the
wheels of evolution by
protecting and preserving every species of plant and animal in existence -
somebody is going to lose out in the end. Those of you who have observed
any
plants growing in the wild know that more destruction is accomplished
routinely by native populations of people and other animals, than any plant
collector ever will. One only needs to witness the routine burning of
Central and South America or the simple overgrazing of cattle to know that
no
law by any government will control extinction or evolution.
All that rolled together tells me that - while it seems likely that
somebody's law was broken, in the case of Pepe Portilla, it would also seem
that the priorities are a little "out of whack" here. There is a Colombian
"plant importer" on my streetcorner this very moment who has imported a
thousand times more dangerous plants than a few "old" cycads, and the
authorities have no interest in him - perhaps it's the crystalline purity
of
his plants that assures them that they are free of nematodes and all other
harmful substances. Send that wired guy over please.
- Michael Riley in Neuva York
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