Class material:
*** Tree Fighters ***
Cheryl: So, who are some of the people who are fighting to protect these trees besides you as an environmental scientist?
Nick: Well, in Tasmania, the first green political party was developed, so yeah, they obviously want to protect the forests a lot, and have big protests, tie themselves to trees. Sit up in trees to protect the trees.
Cheryl: People actually still do that? Tie themselves to trees?
Nick: Oh, everyday in Tasmania.
Cheryl: Oh, really?
Nick: It's a big issue. A very big issue.
Cheryl: That's interesting. I once heard of a girl who lived in a tree for a month because she wanted to stop the deforestation company or people from taking down that tree, so she lived up there and she had people bring her supplies but she never came down.
Nick: That happens in Tasmania as well. There's people today which are up in trees, maybe up to fifty which permanently live up in trees.
Cheryl: Wow!
Nick: Yeah, so. I don't know how they do it.
Cheryl: That's kind of crazy ... So Nick, from the companies point of view, playing the devil's advocate here, I think they provide jobs for all the people who are working to make trees into paper. What do you think they have to say about that?
Nick: Well, it's true, they do provide jobs, and some cities, some small towns do rely on logging industry to provide jobs and support the shops in the place, but ...
Cheryl: But!
Nick: But! Yeah. So tourism is a very big industry in Tasmania, and maybe the logging industry takes away tourists jobs as well, because it makes certain areas not useful for tourism anymore, not very pretty.
Cheryl: Yeah, your right. If the whole forest is missing, I guess nobody would really want to go and look at anything.
Nick: Yeah, there're some really beautiful spots in Tasmania which have been many tarnished a little by the logging industry.
