Comments on: Thai Monks Combat Deforestation

By: Inspiration for Earth Day – Taking Refuge in the Earth Sangha – EcoLocalizer

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:02:25 +0000

[...] the tradition of the Thai forest monks, the relationship of the mind with Nature is an intimate one- there is no separation, it is a [...]

By: Dolores Dendy

Dolores Dendy — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:58:28 +0000

I just watched a local PBS program about the Buddhist Monks in Thailand. It is very sad that man will never learn the importance that the balance of nature contributes to our wellbeing. I commend these monks in thier determination and beliefs and sincerely hope that more people will be as commited as they are in saving our forest all over the planet!

Namaste!

By: deurinck

deurinck — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:58:36 +0000

I live in Thailand. My wife has just bought a beautiful plot near the Cambodian border. We want to have trees there as soon as possible. Can anyone advise me on what type of trees I should plant? Please specify their ecological value. Thanks

By: Perry Garfinkel

Perry Garfinkel — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:19:59 +0000

I am the author of “Buddha or Bust” (www.BuddhaorBust.com), which Whitney cites as the inspiration of her post and I am so glad she picks up on this relatively unknown environmental travesty and the ecology monks’ noble efforts to bring “awareness” to it. As I witnessed the monks’ simple traditional ordaining ceremony at the edge of a small stand of trees in far northern Thailand, surrounded by some villagers and a group of students who’d also been invited, I couldn’t help but think about the Buddhist philosophy of cause-and-effect. Whether you buy into Buddhism or not, surely you can agree that things you do or say have a boomerang effect, unknown at the time. I was on assignment for National Geographic magazine at the time. And I knew that if I wrote something real, something factual, something poignant, others would “hear” it. Sadly, the Geographic had to cut the section I wrote on this, due to space limits (hey, a few less pages in the magazine saved a couple of trees!). But I got to write the book and write a long section on it. And now here we have Whitney and all you bloggers boomeranging. So there you have it. Keep that karma going and let’s spread the word of this issue and change will happen. Thanks for making me believe. You can write me care of my website.

By: matt

matt — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:00:58 +0000

Wonderful post and story. I really like the idea of monks ordaining trees.

By: Tim Hurst

Tim Hurst — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:58:21 +0000

Great story, Whitney.

By: PlanetThoughts

PlanetThoughts — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:32:41 +0000

A well-balanced article, with a thorough presentation of the facts. As William said, I have heard nothing about Asian deforestation (except recently about Indonesia and the damage due to palm oil bio-diesel plantation farming) before today.

The article points out that in some cases it is survival of the tree vs survival of the forestry workers and their families. Something more fair, to protect both trees and people, needs to be developed and propogated to avoid this endless reduction of our giant safety net, which is one way of describing the tremendous importance of the world’s forests.

By: willem van der pas - deeljehuiswerk

willem van der pas - deeljehuiswerk — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:47:05 +0000

I didn’t knew they were deforesting that much in Asia too. You only hear about the Amazon rainforest disappearing.

By: Jeff McIntire-Strasburg

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:13:26 +0000

This is really interesting! I find the intersections between religion and environmentalism fascinating… Perhaps members of the evangelical “creation care” movement could take some cues from these monks…