This documentary aired on PBS several days ago (released in 2012) reminding me of the Bloody Diamonds of the Sierra Leone and the Coltan wars in the Belgian Congo.
The falsified ideological and artificial consumption demanded in the capitalistic worlds under the brilliant notion of the Free Trade distorts the normal supply and demand curves, and imposes tremendous socio-economic and environmental cost on this planet.
The man-made brutality and ignorance driven by greed (caused by what? ) can never be explained enough in these episodes. The battle is not just telling the elephants' tragedies, but can also be associated with the rest of endangered sentient beings for their unfortunate endowments of furs, skins, beauty, rareness, meat, fins, horns, feathers, and the rest of essences that human beings demand them to fill up the unnecessary yet insatiable wants.
In this case, as to the Regular Diamonds versus Bloody Diamonds, so as, how to differentiate the ivories from the normally aged and deceased elephants versus from the poached healthy elephants is an issue as well.
Information sharing may raise the awareness to empower consciousness and conscience for proper action, so I re-post these episodes.
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Battle for the Elephants - Preview
Inside the Ivory Trade
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4