Page 22 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • March 13, 2013 to many Africans, who see poaching and smuggling ivory as a lucrative trade -- much like the Anglo-American trade in opium to China 150 years ago. History is a double-edged sword. What the Chinese ivory trade is doing to the elephant population is awful. Elephants are not dumb brutes. The females take great care of the young, and elephants seem to mourn their dead. These are not animals that should ever be wantonly slaughtered, even though the Chinese want the ivory and the Chinese ivory carvers and African poachers and smugglers make great money. What the British opium trade did to China was also awful, and what the Arab-European slave trade did to Africa was certainly the worst of all. There may be a certain self-righteousness attached to making villains of Asians and Africans for murdering animals while the European proclivity for murdering or subtly poisoning people is not entirely forgotten either in Asia or Africa. A similar campaign operates to save marine mammals from the Japanese and, it might be added, from the Koreans and Russians, who do the same thing but are not remembered for Pearl Harbor. Whales and dolphins may look like fish, which is a great incentive to rationalization, but the marine mammals have a comparatively full range of affections and emotions. These creatures should also be spared in every way possible. The two Anglo-Saxon guys in the National Geographic special were brave men. They were risking their necks with some of the investigative stunts they pulled off with hidden TV cameras showing how easy it was to buy illegal ivory in rural Africa. They made a couple of worthwhile points. One of them got a saleswoman to claim a beautifully carved piece of ivory came from a mammoth. Then she giggled. On the whole, the two Anglo-Saxon guys were a bit obtuse in their understanding of other cultures. One Chinese Buddhist in the ivory carving business was photographed saying: “Elephants are our friends. We believe that the elephants should be happy and joyful because they left their tusks to us.” The reporter considered this rank hypocrisy. In fact, it typifies the view of life and death often found in Buddhist cultures, and not just in China. Ever read some of the letters sent home by kamikaze pilots? Once free of Marxism or violent nationalism, most Buddhists in a harsh world see the afterlife, with proper preparation, as an absolute and desirable reality and the temporal world as an unpleasant prelude or possible obstacle. Many Muslims also feel that way. This misunderstanding on our part has caused some real problems for our foreign policy. The ultimate reach, however, was when one of the elephant-savers, wishing to show how bad the Chinese were, showed a magazine photograph of the Chinese ambassador to Tanzania squatting and grinning over a dead crocodile. How awful – and I mean how awful in terms of hypocrisy! Does anybody have any idea how many African and Asian children are eaten by crocodiles every year? Nobody keeps records, but the Japanese Army lost 800 soldiers to crocodiles in Burma and Thailand during three years of World War II, so the number of native children and adults pulled under, drowned, and eaten must number in the thousands. Europeans and Americans want to save the tigers, while Asian farmers want to save their cattle -- and their kids. Elephants, whales, and dolphins are not homicidal except when wounded, so they should be saved if at all possible. China will not falter and fall if the world endorses a total ban on the ivory trade. The Chinese may ignore the ban, but they will not falter and fall. The Japanese and the Russians eat whale meat, but they can live without it. Why do we Americans and British animal-lovers not show them how serious we are about compassion for animals by offering a deal? If you give up killing whales for food and dolphins as food competitors, we will give up eating beef. The Japanese were horrified when Commodore Perry arrived in 1853, contrary to their wishes, and demanded oxen for beef for his crew. The Japanese grudgingly complied with guns pointed in their faces, but then built shrines to the murdered oxen. To the Japanese of 1853, an ox was somewhere between a family dog and a horse. The idea of eating an ox was appalling. Since those days, some Japanese people have begun eating steak, but many are still uneasy about it. If we eliminated beef from the American diet, and encouraged other peoples to do the same, we could not only reduce the incidence of heart disease but we could also reduce the chopping of the rain forests that produce so much of the world’s oxygen, but are now being eradicated to make room for cattle pastures. Even better, we should eliminate the cultivation of tobacco and the export of cigarettes to gullible people who want to be like Americans. Maybe we could then convince people of other cultures that we have matured beyond finger-pointing just as we have matured beyond finger-painting. Both should end with literacy. The other night, I took mental notes while I checked out another clash in culture: the story of how the Chinese desire for carved ivory is endangering African elephants. Ivory is much desired in China, where it is a symbol of wealth and a superb Chinese artistic tradition that goes back at least 2,000 years. Some of the art objects shown on a National Geographic Special on PBS, “Battle for the Elephants,” retail for a cool $1 million and it is not hard to see why. What is hard to see is the prelude to the artistry: gun-shy elephants flapping their ears and weeping in fear every time they see a truck, because they know their lives are at risk, even in nature preserves where they were once safe to amuse and delight the tourists. The sight of tusks taken from dead elephants which are less than a foot long is also immensely sad. A total ban on the ivory trade in the 1980s gave the elephant population a chance to rebound. People stopped shooting the elephants unless they endangered crops. The elephant population of Africa in 1800 has been estimated at 26 million, and the elephants had no natural enemies, except for the Pygmies, whom National Geographic left out. Pygmies, the smallest of people, trapped elephants, the largest of mammals, as a meat staple to their largely vegetable diet, which was otherwise quiet poor in protein. They needed to kill an elephant once in awhile and they made no real dent in the elephant population. When Europeans arrived, they sometimes enslaved the Pygmies to force them to hunt for ivory, which caused a cruel decimation of the Pygmies and the elephants alike. The elephant guns that were introduced were so powerful that, during World War I, they were pressed into emergency service as anti-tank guns. They could literally pierce steel plates that would bounce a rifle bullet. By 1900, the wild elephant population had been reduced to an estimated 10 million so Great White Hunters could say they shot one at a safe distance. The Pygmies worked close and took their chances, and were very much at risk. Europeans used elephant ivory for combs, billiard balls, and piano keys, all status objects at a certain level of society. Then something great and terrible happened: After years of colonial exploitation and even worse years of Maoist economics, China finally rehabilitated itself and became a player in the world economy, and the demand for elephant ivory skyrocketed. The estimated elephant population fell to 1.7 million in 1979 and almost crashed at 600,000 in 1989, when a ban on the world ivory trade was finally promulgated. “China is the world’s villain in the ivory trade,” said one researcher featured on the National Geographic special. He had a British accent. While I am not Chinese, I could have pointed out that the ivory villain of the previous century was Belgium, whose colonialists murdered an estimated two million Bantu and Pygmy Africans in the ivory and rubber trades, only to become the Anglo-Saxon world’s favorite victim due to World War I British propaganda. Today, the Chinese have become the villains to friends of the elephants, though not Saving whales, elephants, and ourselves Letters to the Editor Resident appreciates community’s support As a member of the elementary PTA, I see this group give directly to our children’s education: field trips, transportation, assemblies, author visits, planners, printers, scanners, playground equipment, classroom grants, and one of my favorite times of the school year: Cultural Awareness Week. Each March, parents from the elementary schools build a mini-convention in the Highland School gym. Last year’s fair showcased the regions of the United States. This year, the fair explores events that shaped America. Months of painting, carpentry, writing scripts, planning small activities for kindergarten through sixth grade go into these few days. All of this is funded by our elementary PTA and the creative parents in town. I hope Midland Park residents will join our children on March 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Highland gymnasium for a trip to our country’s past and some of the events that shaped it. Jennifer Triolo Midland Park Dear Editor: I am amazed at the creativity and dedication shown by the families, teachers, and the community of Midland Park to enhance our children’s education. After the state department of education cut aid to schools in 2010, causing drastic cuts in programs, parents stepped up to try to fill the gaps. As a parent of two children in the district, I am grateful to all the parents and organizations that have donated time, money, and equipment to help make up for this enormous loss. The Midland Park Public Education Foundation purchased computer technology for all public schools in town. Athletic associations paid for equipment and field maintenance at the schools. Performing Arts Parents paid for new energy-efficient lighting in the Memorial Hall auditorium last year. The dedication of these groups and generosity of local businesses and organizations have subsidized our schools. Tree ordinance (continued from page 6) The new tree ordinance, which is 42 pages long, was presented to the planning board on Feb. 6. That board commented on the proposal and recommended some changes that were incorporated in the ordinance that has now been introduced. The details of the ordinance can be seen on the borough’s website under Borough Code/Ordinances/Pending Ordinances/Ordinance 1562. A public hearing will be held on the new ordinance at the council’s March 19 regular meeting at which time the ordinance is expected to be adopted.