Tires Are Destroying Forests

There are so many conversations about electric cars and what has to be done to make cars more eco-friendly, but what about the tires attached to your car? In an article in Time titled Don't Let Your Tires Destroy The World's Forests, it explains how "the cars we drive every day, as well as the large trucks, buses and planes that transport cargo and people, rely on rubber that mainly comes from exotic tree plantations in mainland Southeast Asia." The rubber plantations are causing the destruction of Asia's remaining forests.

90% of natural rubber grows in Southeast Asia. "Since the 1970s, the region has lost hundreds of millions of acres of natural forest, mostly to make way for infrastructure and the production of commodities, including rubber."

In 2014 53 of the world's largest companies signed the New York Declaration on Forests. They pledged to "eliminate deforestation from their supply chains. Hundreds of companies from the Consumer Goods Forum have made the same pledge."

Last week Michelin created a new zero deforestation policy. "Michelin has been working with World Wildlife Fund since early 2015 to show that natural rubber can be produced responsibly. We are working in landscapes like Thirty Hills in central Sumatra to design deforestation-free, wildlife-friendly plantations that provide sustainable income for local communities. We are working across global supply chains to ensure that no more natural forests are destroyed because of the every-growing demand for tires." Thirty Hills is an area in Indonesia threatened by the production of palm oil, rubber and timber. This area is one of the few places left where tigers, elephants and orangutans co-exist.

Time Article: http://time.com/4391096/rubber-deforestation/

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