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Subscribe to RSSSINGAPORE -- In the two minutes it takes to read this story, an area the size of 60 football fields will have been clear-cut by illegal loggers globally, according to Chatham House, an independent policy institute in London.
Catching the loggers and their bosses has long been a problem because of corruption, lax law enforcement and limited ability to detect the crime quickly.
Satellite monitoring is changing that. Powerful eyes in the sky and cheaper and more powerful data-crunching computers mean there will be no place to hide for palm oil, logging or mining firms that clear without permits or outside their concessions.
Higher resolution satellite imaging and near-real time analysis will mean investors, green groups, law enforcement agencies and the public can monitor any patch of forest.
Washington-based World Resources Institute plans to launch an upgraded version of Global Forest Watch, a free Web-based service, either later this year or early in 2013.
Using a NASA satellite, the service will focus on tropical areas of the globe with an image resolution of 500 meters by 500 meters every 16 days.
Study: Wildlife vanishing at 'staggering rate' in Brazil forests
Users can choose an area of interest and be alerted by e-mail about any changes in tree cover.
The Global Forest Watch tool, supported by Google and the University of Maryland among others, will also contain data about logging or agricultural licenses and their owners, protected areas, infrastructure and other details.
Due diligence
For investors such as banks or private equity firms, the tool can be used for due diligence to check up on a potential acquisition such as an Indonesian palm oil firm, to make sure it is on the right side of the law, said Nigel Sizer, director of WRI's Forests Initiative. Similarly, international food companies can make sure their palm oil suppliers are environmentally compliant.
PhotoBlog: Calif. environmentalists say logging burned forest near Tahoe threatens rare bird
Forest and conservation news site Mongabay.com recently launched a free deforestation tracker using NASA satellite data. It issues an alert if green cover in an area being tracked changes by more than 40 percent over a year.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
The Amazon rainforest has meant prosperous times for many in Brazil, but environmental and cultural disaster for others.
Another service, Terra-i, offers free high-resolution forest cover analysis for all of Latin America.
PhotoBlog: Survival of isolated tribe in Peru threatened
Thomson Reuters subsidiary Lanworth offers detailed deforestation analysis by area, time and forest type. Their work was central to a Reuters investigation last month into illegal clearing by a palm oil firm in Borneo.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
The Belo Monte dam is among 60 Brazil plans to build in its Amazon region to help power its growing economy. But the vision also has its critics.
Sizer said within five years, micro satellites with 5 to 10 meters resolution will deliver real-time imaging to rapidly detect any changes in forest cover. In a decade, high-resolution video would likely be available.
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Leave a Comment:
It'd be nice if they'd start cutting down on illegal immigration.
Unfortunately, that would require cooperation by the government.
Denver:
You mean Obama and the other two stooges...Pelosi and Reid!
Yeah, curtailing illegal immigration is such a high priority for the GOP that they do absolutely nothing about it. I am sure that they way that many large businesses are dependent upon the undocumented and their downward pressure upon everyones wages has nothing to do with it.
perhaps they should use this to track that "no papers/no fear" bus of illegals heading to see there DNC heroes.
...and this is related to the article how???
'No Value'
cjsks -
Satellite monitoring of illegal activity is the subject of this article. See the connection now?
They may not be doing anything about it but at least they're not actively promoting it like the high-ranking Dems are.
I see the connection, you are still off-topic. The topic is illegal deforestation, not anything and everything that can be surveilled via satellite!
Apparently a sufficient number of viners agreed with me, to collapse this thread.
That's a GOOD one! HAHA!
What! And have all the super-rich 1%ers have to actually pay REAL livable wages to their "help"?!? Oh, and don't forget about all those "illegals" who currently do the harvesting of the foods you eat EVERY DAY. Are YOU going to go out and pick apples, potatoes, onions, strawberries, raspberries, melons, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc -- for less than $7 an hour?
Oh, right, you're probably too good for that kind of WORK.
High resolution micro satellites with video capability within a decade. We need this ability to track global deforestation? What about human dignity and the right to privacy? I guess that's out the window? Combine surveillance technology with instant worldwide communication, now add RFID chips which will certainly become more robust as the technology advances and you have a formula that enslaves entire populations. There is no turning back the clock, there will be nowhere to escape agencies that are intent on tracking your every move.
To those who celebrate these advances, I encourage you to think about the ramifications. Big brother is already watching us but the advances coming our way will compound. Think about devices recording high definition video of you and your family as you go about your lives. Think about that video being stored indefinitely in the cloud. We will have no personal freedom from scrutiny and there will be no escape should an agency decide we have violated some law.
Ask yourself, how many times a year do you cross some line/violate some law you didn't even know about? Laws are many, minds are limited in their ability to comprehend, learn...there will be no one on this earth free from potential prosecution.
Freedom fought for by millions of brave men and women will truly be a thing of the past.
What makes you think that you are so important that the government would waste time and money watching you go about your life?
Why would you conclude that I am talking about myself? Speak to the comment instead of trying to divert the impetus of it!
The danger is that when anyone speaks out against government they can be easily targeted and tracked. That has a chilling effect on dissent and on democracy itself.
Does that mean then the Feds can arrest you or something along that line? Actually, a good freind of mine IS being constantly tracked by them. No joke! He and several other students back in the late 70's sued this very prestigous University for Human Rights violations. The University sent the Feds out to monitor my freind. He has found things missing then returned from his home, from his storage locker and his sister's place. It freaks her out! She's found a couple of pictures missing, then returned. Seriously, I know it sounds weird, but I actually got a glimpse of one of the Fed guys at a event we were attending. He pointed the guy right out to me. They just like harrassing him.
A fast unexplained death of the person doing the watching might be in order.
You know what really upsets me are these people that are hurting Mother Earth and seems to think they can get away with but the matter a fact they can't because when Mother Earth gets hurt like this there is no coming back.
I am glad they are catching these people but I only hope and pray it isn't to late.
This should have happen so long ago I can't count but now it is happening Thank God.
Carol:
Your pc, car, washer/dryer, tv, cell phone, home, clothes, all hurt "mother earth." So when are you going to give all this up?
Carol......We have people like that in this country....The Bush Administration gave the timber industry total access to our forests, and he even let them make the laws governing "logging"...It wasn't until the logging industry wanted to cut down the redwoods in the national parks that a "halt" occurred.....Not that the Republicans cared, but because of the bad press it would generate.
But Romney will fix that little problem.
PS Carol:
Lived in Oregon for 8 years....The logging industry destroyed that state....DESTROYED.
Didn't take long for someone to blame Bush.
Just:
Yep!
JustaGrunt...It is what it is.
You can dress a "doucebag" in a suit, but it's still a doucebag.
Goeorge Bush was a real prince>>>>>Just look what he did for our economy with his "decisions".
lol do you have any idea how many trees the government has contrated logging companies to cut in national parks etc buffer zones are left so the public i cant see maybe we the public need to be watching them
Rom1
you mean the economy that Pres. Obama helped along. After all it is Congress that sets the spending and taxing, and Pres. Obama was Sen. Obama during the meltdown.
Yep, liberals can't stand the truth, it was the democrat congress that destroyed the economy. To this day unemployment is twice what they inherited. They are now calling this the new norm and they are 100% correct, as long as liberals run government real unemployment will remain double digit and deficits will run over a trillion a year.
I guess that's what we get for turning our capitalist economy over to a bunch of socialists led by a Marxist.
@Rom... Think of all the houses for shelter that wood build all over the world, kept people employed and food on their table.
I have been to Oregon MANY times lately, still ALOT of trees out there! Much prettier state than Crowdifornia! :)
Hey JustaGrunt: I bet you knew that when Bush (Shrub) was Governor of Texas, that state had the worst pollution record in its history. I bet you just didn't care about it, either -- because "you don't live there".
And that has what do do with my previous posting? BTW I used to live in Texas, and I do care, but thanks for projecting.
Old McSighber had a saw,
Oh my Gosh OH NO
And with this saw he cut a tree,
Oh my Gosh OH NO
With a RRRR RRRR here and a RRRR RRRR there
Here RRRR, there a RRRR, everywhere a RRRR RRRR
Old McSighber had a saw,
Oh my Gosh OH NO!
I own a saw,
I cut a tree,
I'm an environmental outlaw,
better prosecute me!
Sighber; Time for you to go home now.....Your "keepers" are looking for you.
My keepers gave me the saw! A large maple tree in front of the asyl...er home was the first to go!
I think everyone should go home now baaaa if ya want to talk about keepers who could trust in our shepperd , dont worry they have their eye on you all and some of you like it thats what gets me
So you think anybody with a chain saw should just be allowed to cut down any tree they feel like cutting down? Seriously?
Hey sighber, how about we cut down ALL the trees everywhere in the world, and then pave over every inch of ground? That way we can make sure that HUMANS are never again able to have the things that make life possible -- like OXYGEN.
You go ahead and have fun with you chainsaw, cutting down every tree you are LEGALLY allowed to cut down.
Dont worry the government is cutting the trees down legally
and just how will this stop the other two? because they now have pictures?.........right.........
Who cares ???? at least they are not watching it all burn down and running for their lives like we are in the U.S.A. Logging is needed for balance and commerce. Let them Log and replant, it is the right thing to do.
I don't think they're in the habit of replanting. Illegal logging is about cutting corners like that one.
If it was legal, loggers could replant. Because it is illegal, they have to get in and get out. In the US, legal loggers typically plant three trees for every one they cut.
Trees are one of the few renewable building materials. In the Pacific NW where I live, trees grow like weeds. Each year I have to pull seedlings from my driveway or they will completely reclaim the land.
The folks who cut illegally couldn't give a rat's a$$ about replanting. They just cut it, haul it, and sell it.
Here's what you seem to not understand, Phil: When a RAINFOREST is clear-cut, there are no trees left to protect the land from being washed away by the TORRENTIAL RAINS that are one of the hallmarks of a RAINFOREST. Also, there are no trees left to process the air, exchanging massive amounts of CO2 for oxygen, or to shade the ground to keep it from drying out. And RAINFORESTS are literally a large part of the weather-generator of the planet we call "Earth". How about you actually educate yourself about it before spouting off your mouth?
As for those tree seedlings of yours "growing like weeds", I seriously doubt it. For one thing, the seedlings will grow only in the places where conditions are right, they generally require a minimum of THREE YEARS to reach the stage where they begin to reproduce -- and it takes a minimum of TWENTY YEARS for any tree to get big enough to "worth" logging. How many trees do you really know of that will reach MATURITY in only one growing season, Phil?
Why AGAIN has it become the USA's business what happens in another country? Maybe our elected leaders should hand these governments more of my hard earned tax dollars to stop the logging...yeah right, they will just use the money to buy more equipment so they can work faster and sell more lumber.
How many billions of dollars has been spent enhancing these satellites? How would the US Government feel if any of these other governments launched satellites and watched what we are doing????
Ah The United States, help everyone else but not ourselves!
Ok, so then why is it anyone's business what happens in any state, county, city or town they do not live in?
When the hell are you people going to understand that what you do to the planet you live on, you eventually do to your own descendants? Or are you just so @!$%#ing greedy that you just don't give a goddamn about it?
I think someone had a bad case of the Mondays.
60 Football Fields! What the hell are THEY Using! Don't need a Satellite to HEAR THAT!
What is it about "globally" that you fail to comprehend? And the illegal logging is not being done in places with high population, it's being done in places where there are very few people around to hear any of it. Try opening your eyes AND your brain.
good grief people, will everyone quit reading this article...your destroying the earth.................:)
We all are destroying the earth by goig about our daily lives: the cars we drive, the magazines, books and newspapers we buy, the "disposable" products we use every day then throw away, the new house we just bought in the brand new subdivision, where 5 years before was nothing but trees.
It's so easy & convenient to get riled up about something that's "so far away," but we do PLENTY on an individual level to destroy the planet.
We need Strictor recycling amd replanting laws. We can remake things out of plastic...everything from car seats to fake boards. We need to quit dumping our plastic waste into our oceans and clean up the stuff we got floating out there. Now that would create afew jobs. Theres enough of it out there to retrieve. That could create some much needed jobs in a new industry and clean up our oceans so our fish can live better and clean up our food supply. I dont no about you but I dont want to pay $20 a plate for a fish that has been living in an oil slick, bio waste or sess pool..do you??I think we should start requiring that all products that arent biodegradable be recycled. We cant keep ignoring this problem. We need to recycle and renew. I think if it isnt renewable or recycleable it isnt needed..we can make stuff from renewable/recyclable materials that are just as good.
Elaine, I agree 100%. A couple years ago, I watched the movie Wall-E, and I swear every year I think we get closer and closer to that reality: We are destroying the earth and making it slowly inhabitable.
Not to mention we as humans are getting larger and larger too.
Our kids and grandkids will have a heck of a mess on their hands...
The US is not the problem, the third world is. Unfortunately they run their own lives and we have no business meddling, whether we like it or not. Our CO2 levels are down to 1992 levels thanks to the free market switching from coal to cheaper nat gas. China has already overtaken us as the worlds largest polluter and India is not far behind. The satellites are monitoring the tropics because that's where the violations are, Brazil in particular.
What ever happens to the enivornment is out of our control, the first world is on the right track, the third world is not.
Well, I believe we were put here on Earth for a reason! Not sure what, but try to enjoy life as much as you can, take care of your enviroment as much as possible, but REALX! Stop freakin' out with the Global Warming crap, (I meant climate change!) It is natural! The Earth has always gone thru major changes! We can only do so much, volcanos put out a hell of alot more C02 than we can ever put out!
Oh, really? And who has been the leading factor in the "third world" doing whatever it takes to become as rich and powerful, while IGNORING and/or NOT CARING what they do to the entire planet, just to be rich and powerful? It sure as hell wasn't a Tibetan monk......
Yeah, the only thing that matters to the powers-that-be in the U.S.A. is money and political power -- and that "third world" has learned that the only thing that matters is money and political power. Now you're complaining yet again that all those "barbarians" and "savages" are doing exactly what they've been taught to do.
Right, clear-cutting of forests is "natural". Draining and paving over of marshes is "natural". The obliteration of entire mountains just to get at the few hundred tons of coal inside them is "natural".
I suppose that you'll choose to ignore a radioactive leak at the nearest nuclear powerplant because it's "natural", too.
The same goes for technology. The advances being made have the potential to enslave us all. We are excited to see each new improvement but our freedom is continually under assault. Think about drones in our sky's, micro-satellites, high definition cameras that are ever smaller, stealth technology including the ability to bend light waves around an object so don't see the object but what is behind it. Think about light wave bending technology used to bend light so a video camera can record what is happening behind an object (your walls) and feel comforted that we will all be safer? Anyone who fails to grasp the direction this technology is being steered (deliberately) will eventually have to face the fact that you will not be free to do anything without it being scrutinized.
Some will say, so don't do anything wrong and you don't need to worry, but the things that are considered wrong are in a constant state of flux on this planet and vary widely from culture to culture. I don't think where we're headed is anywhere good.
Homo-erectus-domesticus? Save the wild humans! I know it sounds crazy and given earlier posts I made, one may conclude that I truly am in some kind of institution, but soon we will all be in an institution of a sort, institution Earth!
Be wary the technology collar, it shall restrain you, you will heel!
and yet you use the same techology here. Technology is nothing more then a tool for humans to use, it is neither good nor evil.
I never claimed technology was good or evil, I expressed concern. My concern is based on past history that suggests we have always sought to conquer/dominate each other. Technology allows ever greater control through an ever expanding ability to observe, record, and manipulate, which can easily be used as means to dominate. Tell me I'm wrong, convince me that no one will ever use these technological advances to repress freedom! Hasn't the very existence of such technology already caused people to modify their behavior, doesn't that already constitute an erosion of freedom?
Convince me that it will be used for that. Hasn't Technology also allowed more people freedom? How hs it caused people to modify their behavior?
Look at history then convince me it won't. Like all advances it is a double edged sword. Unfortunately since this is spy technology, the the enslaving edge of the sword is a little sharper than the freedom side.
What in history would lead you to belive this? What advances have lead to a loss of freedoms?
1 Weapons. Look at the Cold War, everyone was so afraid that one little hiccup would set off WWIII.
2 Cell Phones. Law enforcement and other agencies can and do, track people with their cell phones.
3 GPS, again it can and is used to track people.
4 Internet, you leave a fingerprint(figuratively) with every website you visit and every post that you make. And again this is being used to track and watch people.
5 Security Cameras, Traffic Cams, Cell phone cameras and videos. Even if the government isn't using these things your friends, family and neighbors are.
These are just a few items, also look at identity theft, made possible with greater effiencey than ever before.
Just saying.
Again, what freedoms have been impacted by these. Wait I know, lets all turn off any technology that we might have, turn off the power, turn in any weapon that we might have, and go back to living in the stone age. Then would you feel safe?
Welcome to the World of the Global Big Brother. With the technology advancing it will be hard for any illegal activity to exscape scrutiny. The big question is what will become of our rights when Big Brother decides to abuse this Technology to take away our rights.
Maybe you should be asking your Reich-wing CONservative and Tea-Tagger friends that question, since even they want to use it keep track of people who "have ties to terrorists". Not people who are actually working with and helping terrorists -- just people who happen to be Muslim and/or work for causes that actually help people no matter their religious and/or political views. Causes that your Reich-wing CONservative Tea-Tagger friends have deemed, with no actual proof at all, to be "communistic and Islamic terrorist threats".
Here's a huge Catch-22 for all you scholars. There's a pretty good article at NATURE right now from a socials cientist. He clearly shows by way of a scientific study why the vast majority of people will not accept a scientific outcome if it is counter to their own belief system or the beliefs of their immediate circle ( tribe, clan , social club , barroom buddies, Babrber Shop cabal , likeminded groups of any sort ).
In other words, you can lead a person to science, but you can't make them think.
(But they sure can spout off and fulminate on internet forums, can't they ? Anonymity allows us all to be dictators and archbishops )
We have only had earth resources satellites since 1972 when LANDSAT-1 was launched. It has revolutionized the study of the planet . You cannot hide from these man-made God's Eyes , that reveal all, with clockwork regularity. I've been collecting LANDSAT images since 1975 ,and I view daily satellite photos from NASA's fabulous TERRA and AQUA satellites, and routinely check in with many other research sats and the programs that use them , globally.
I have in my own short lifetime seen thru remote eyes the alarming rate at which the human bacteria is devouring the planet like some flesh-eating Staphylococcus. We humans are cursed with a Mayfly Effect. We only live maybe 75 years, which is nothing on the timescale of a whole planet. It's like an insect that lives but a single day to consume, reproduce, then die. We humans are scourge. The word sustainability is in our vocabularies, but not in our lives. Not at all. Looking at satellite photos is like a slow motion horror film, frame by frame. Humans are destructive. QED
We destroyed the great forests of the Middle East thousands of years ago . Lebanon means " Place of Cedars" , but today the few remaining groves of those Biblical-era cedars are closely guarded in small preserves. We denuded what trees lived in the Sahara. 99 erpcent of Europe's famous Black Forest was logged. The original 13 American Colonies' leading export to England was lumber...we cut 97 percent of our own Old Growth forests in the colonies.
What is going on in the Amazon , in Indonesia, Southeast Asia, China, interior Siberia, and elsewhere has been going on for 8,000 years since we upright walking apes settled down in villages with our stone tools, crude metal, and newmade fire instead of being nomadic. Wanna see some recent wholesale destructive clearcut logging close to home ? Jump into Google Earth and cruise British Columbia or Oregon. My own state of Wyoming has a disgraceful amount of scarring on the land from coal mines and gas wells., and some pretty poor agriculture and silvaculture.
Look at LANDSAT. Fly with Google Earth . Go to Geo-Eye or Digital Globe ( soon to be same ) . The French have SPOT. NASA has a fleet of remote sensing satelites whose visions are all online. The Europeans have several , too.
I'm living for the day that Google Earth updates its satellite imagery every month ( or sooner) instead of every 2-4 years.
There. I have led you to Science. Now, can you THINK ? Then possibly act..... ?
I totally get you. You hit the nail right on the head. I dont understand why humans need to keep destroying when they have enough plastics, metals they have harvested and left overs to build things without destroying our trees and mountains. You dont need wood to build a house. Not to mention the recyclable stuff would come out of our polluted system and be recycled into something useful instead of floating in our rivers and oceans or buried in our earth and forgotten. Put it to good use instead of burying it and trying to act like it doesnt exist. Its time to smarten up. We cant keep acting like this issue is just gonna go away. We can be responsible. All we have to do is be creative. There are many possibilites..we are not idiots...though we do act like idiots alot of the time. We cant keep ignoring it because we all have to live here...we can see what the side effects of our behavior is. Its not that hard to put a plastic bottle in a recycling container or use a glass bottle instead of a plastic one... Or even use a drinking fountain instead of a bottled water.
take an average American that inadvertedly stumbles upon this magnificent comment you have bestowed us with. Assuming they read the whole thing AND comprehend it, how long before whatever effect it had is washed away by some form of immediate gratification, offered directly and subliminally through just about everything they see and hear in their awake time? We have things to buy, Elaine. And linear production can feed compulsive consumerism much more efficiently. Do not disturb.
On a serious note, though... i loved reading this. Thank you.
Well I can dream at least..
EVERY species impacts their environment, we are no different from other animals excepting we have the intelligence to realize it. Our issue is not the individual but sheer numbers. If one person pee's a mile upstream from you you'll never even measure it let alone notice it, when a million do it you have a problem.
Like it or not, everyone alive deserves the same amenities you have, including that PC you are using, TV's, autos, homes, clothes, food, etc. Unless you want to vacate your home or rental unit and live in a hemp hut or TP, you have no basis for criticism as you are every bit as much the source of the problem.
Ah, so ValhallaPhil is saying that he'll start doing what is actually right for the planet that he happens to live on when everyone else does it. That's like saying that he'll apologize for whatever he did wrong when his now ex-friend apologizes.
SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE, DUMMIES!!!
So what is stopping you?
We need Strictor recycling amd replanting laws. We can remake things out of plastic...everything from car seats to fake boards. We need to quit dumping our plastic waste into our oceans and clean up the stuff we got floating out there. Theres enough of it out there to retrieve. That could create some much needed jobs in a new industry and clean up our oceans. Fish can grow in a better environment and it cleans up our food supply. I think we should require that all products that arent biodegradable be recycled. We cant keep ignoring this problem. I think if it isnt renewable or recycleable it isnt needed. We can make stuff from renewable/recyclable materials that are just as good without continually dumping the plastics and other waste back into our eco system. It would clean up our planet and food supply and cut down on garbage too. three big pluses to me.
Who will watch the watchers. This obsession with satellite surveillance is absolutely one of the most dangerous inroads on freedom that has come along in the last ten years. Today de-forestation, tomorrow whatever the GOVERNMENT says is illegal.
Lived in Oregon for more than fifty years and environmentalists destroyed the state just destroyed it. At one point logging operations were required to remove all debri from streams, making them very poor spawning grounds. Remember the Spotted Owl? Turns out they are being eaten by other animals. Disease has killed more trees than most people can even imagine, you can drive north and south from Crater Lake through Bend up to Government Camp and see nothing but dead trees. That's almost the entire lenght of the state.
What a WONDERFUL thing technology is.
These scum bags and others like them who rape the Earth without and thought or consequences ever happening to these pigs have now been put on alert, we have the technology to catch them now, but in the next year or two this technology will be so fine tuned that criminals like these loggers will have no chance at all of getting away with their illegal activities.
And all scum bags who rape and destroy the Earth are walking their last times doing crimes against nature and mankind.
Oh get over yourself. If you think this technology will change anything you are deluded. Governments are letting this happen, if you catch the illegals, the government will simply find a way to make it legal. It's already being done in Brazil with substantially reduced standards.
We track illegal logging,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but illegal immigrants run rampant within our borders.
We worry about a forest in someone elses country, but not who is voting in our own.
Somebody is crying about trees in the third world, these very same people cannot explain how Obama paid for college or if he even graduated from college.
Combined with Americas overwhelming concern for Lindsay Lohan or who is humping a Kardiashian and you see the sad state of affairs in the world.
Just Mega Corporate Owned NBC News soft soaping another Spy Agency SPYING on the American People Story....Don't you want to save Bambie's Home?
Well no actually I don't considering how many time THEIR Government has been caught eating Bambie Jerky wearing Bambie Fur and destroying OUR forests themselves I find it more than just a little disingenuous for them to use "Save The Forest" as the EXCUSE to Spy on US.
NO MORE SLIPPAGE....You want to SPY on Americans Get A Warrant...PERIOD! Because NOBODY in 2012 can honestly still believe that "Protecting the Forests" is all you are or will be doing when SPYING on US!
Jury Nullification Folks it's the second best weapon we have....Refuse to CONVICT anyone except Murderers Rapists and Thieves!
First best is....Refuse To Re-Elect ANY of these AMERICAN SPY Supporting Incumbents not even Bailout Barry the Hero of Goldman Sachs and the #1 Secret Supporter of Al-Qaeda!
For NONE of THEM work for US!
I love how this 'to monitor logging and mining' makes its way into this story. THIS is how big brother gets you to accept these monitoring systems with little or no fuss.
Use this system to catch the Illegal Immigrants!!!
Sad that the rainforests in South America and Indonesia are rapidly being destroyed in lieu of palm oil ''plantations,'' cattle, soybeans, etc. With their depletions, look for atmospheric CO2 levels to increase along with the inherent problems associated therein. Needless to say, many species of plant and animal life will have to pay the ''butcher's bill.'' Hard to believe that Brasil, a progressive country, which prided itself on its rainforests, is succumbing to this terrestrial rape as well.
Speak out against those that are destroying natural habitat? Yes! Involving our limited resources via NASA or other U.S. agencies is a waste of our tax money. Change will only occur when the countries that allow this kind of destruction take responsibility for the actions of themselves and their citizens.
let's stick with the deforestation issue.It's bad n'k?.I just wonder how great it'd be to use this technology to spy on people-like americans!neato!