In my state, timber tycoons have systematically stripped the forests of usable wood. Having exhausted local resources, they are now migrating to neighbouring states to repeat the extraction cycle.

About five years ago, the state governor enacted a strict logging ban, citing the industry’s absolute failure to replace the trees they harvested. For nearly two years, these corporate interests lobbied the government relentlessly to lift the restriction. Throughout this extensive lobbying period, they consistently failed to present any viable reforestation strategy.

Consequently, the governor drafted a state-led initiative. He established a new agency dedicated to reforestation, superseding the existing national forestry department that had long since abandoned its mandate. For six months, this new office functioned as intended. They planted saplings, monitored ecological recovery, and actively regulated logging activities.

Then, regulatory capture took effect. The tycoons successfully bribed the new agency, and all conservation efforts ceased completely. The governor’s personal complicity remains unconfirmed; however, the institutional failure is absolute.

Capitalism functions as a purely extractive virus upon the planet. If this economic architecture is allowed to persist, within a few decades the populace will be forced to purchase polluted water and privatised oxygen simply to survive.