This morning while catching up with my mom and dad on skype the horrifying sounds of chainsaw tore into our conversation. Michel and I watched as tree after tree fell. Not little trees either, trees twice the height of our two story home, thick with vines and fat glossy leaves. Poor Komodo Dragon.
By 10 in the morning the sounds of trees falling and saws biting have almost drowned out our conversation, I close the windows and sliding doors connecting our room to the upstairs balcony and just as I sit down I hear a massive thud against the window. Theo and I look up to see a beautiful little owl dazed on the floor of our balcony. He managed to fly away in a state of panic before I could take a picture of him, hopefully he has made a new nest by now.
It is horrible to imagine the number of animals that have been displaced and this is happening all over Bali. Seminyak which consisted of rice fields, Balinese homes and green spaces ten years ago is now a congested, fully paved shopping, eating and spa-ing hot spot. Development has occurred at an astonishing pace, and as well as absorbing all green space this development mushrooms at a shocking pace. I hope to do some research on the urban planning, preservation of green space and new development laws in Bali to see how things are regulated. But for now sitting at my desk looking down at the massacre of trees below its hard to feel anything but animosity for whatever will be built here.
