Borneo's Tropical Rain Forest is disappearing fast: so what?

Trees are vital to human existence because they are the lungs of the earth. Man can survive for months without food but without oxygen life ceases within minutes.

When you destroy a blade of grass

You poison England at her roots

Remember no man's foot can pass

Where evermore no green grass shoots.

I first heard those lines from 'To Iron- Founders and Others' by Gordon Bottomley over fifty years ago when I was a pupil in Mr. Worthington's English Class at Hayward Grammar School.

Over the years I have read articles in newspapers and magazines, listened to lectures and viewed documentaries about the far reaching effects of deforestation but I cannot quote from a single one. Who says poetry isn't relevant in the twenty-first century? Bottomley's warning is indelibly stamped on my conscious and my conscious .

Today I recited this poem to my students and then went on to tell them about what is happening in Borneo. How proud, formerly self-sufficient Dayaks have been forced off their ancestral lands by rapacious loggers and forced to live beggarly lives because they lack the education and skills to adapt to a changed environment. This led to a heated discussion about Develoment vs Conservation: such is the power of poetry.

Ann Massey

http://www.annmasseyauthor.net/

Author of:

The White Amah, a mystery set against the backdrop of the timber logging industry in Malaysia. Sample or purchase: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456578065

The Biocide Conspiracy, a Young Adult thriller that sweeps readers into the world of biowarfare. Sample or purchase; http://www.amazon.com/dp/1456503367