Science and Economics

In school, students are taught about the rainforest, with the mighty canopy and it's wide array of birds, the middle layer filled with various types of monkeys and flying squirrels, and the lower level that is represented by the ground feeders. It is a delicate harmony that relies on one another to survive (forgive me for forgetting the actual names of the tiers in the rainforest...it has been a very long time since I have had a science class).

Students also learn about how the rainforests are being slashed and burned for the precious minerals that are rooted underground.  They learn about the long term impact deforestation of old growth rainforests can have on the environment. They hear statistics about the mining in Brazil that can cause a spike in blood pressure. It is a sickening and alarming tale that is well documented by the likes of 'National Geographic' and the Smithsonian Institute.

Today, I saw it first hand. A Chinese company owns the Ghana Bauxite Mine in Asowa. There they have found bauxite (used for aluminum), iron, and various other precious metal lying quietly beneath the surface of a gorgeous and productive land that the locals used to use for subsitinence farming.  This company deforests the land, scoops away all the top soil (up to 8 meters thick), and blows up the lower tiers of dirt in an effort to loosen the red clay that holds these precious metals. From there, the metals are sent down the mountain to a washer where water (another rare commodity during dry season) is used to clean and crush the rocks. They are then loaded onto trucks, sent to the ports, and put on barges to be refined and manufactured in China, thus eliminating the possible silver lining of brining manufacturing jobs to low GDP countries like Ghana.

Today, I saw the deforestation of centuries old rainforest with my own eyes.

I also saw one very robust nation robbing a smaller, less developed one of the possibility to develop its industry in a way that might possibly even the playing field between economic monoliths and their disproportionality small counterparts. 

It was an incredible site to see. It will be one that I will not unsee for a long, long time.

(I originally put pictures of the deforestation on this post, but the internet is terribly slow and won't allow me to post pictures. Sorry.)