Ordaining Trees (13 June)
13 June 2013
Ordaining Trees
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Cambodia's forests are under a triple threat: first, the luxury hardwoods are in great demand for housing and furniture, especially in China and other Asian countries to which tons of illegally logged wood is taken; second, although it is illegal, the government keeps selling large-scale concessions to foreign companies which then cut down the forests and replace them with rubber, banana, or other plantations; third, the government has little concern for the country's national resources and the military and government officials are behind the illegal logging.
The people living in and dependent on the forests have no rights nor voice. Some activist Buddhists, in an attempt to preserve remaining forests, have taken to ordaining trees, wrapping them with saffron monks' robes with the hope that the loggers would respect the blessed trees.