Day 073 - 13 Jan 95 - Page 18
1 and tended forest cannot contain all the biological
2 qualities and variations that are to be found in the
3 natural forest, or it is damaging to the environment in a
4 more extensive way. I am not asking you for an answer on
5 that now because you could say the moment a man sets foot
6 in a natural forest he will damage the environment, even if
7 it is because he treads on a beetle. Do you understand the
8 point I am trying to make?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, might I intervene at this stage? I have
12 sat patiently. I said something earlier which was intended
13 to be helpful. One knows one has a heavy schedule ahead in
14 this case. One knows that time saved in court may usefully
15 be spent in preparing for what might be more difficult and
16 complex issues than this one.
17
18 May I be quite plain -- I may be wrong; your Lordship will
19 tell me if I am -- but, as I see it, the issues so far as
20 Mr. Hopkins, or this area of the case, is concerned, are
21 these: First, the amount of trees consumed by McDonald's
22 annually, indirectly of course but eventually by
23 McDonald's, for the purpose of packaging; secondly, the
24 geographical location of the forests from which those trees
25 are taken and, as a consequence of that, the nature of
26 those forests in those precise geographical locations; are
27 they old growth forests such as may be found in Oregon or
28 British Columbia? Are they, on the contrary, plantation
29 forests such as nowadays may be found, for example, in
30 Scotland?
31
32 Then, following finally from that, as a consequence of all
33 of that, what, truly speaking, is the environmental damage
34 which may be attributed to McDonald's' use of paper?
35
36 My Lord, I do resist very strongly this court being used
37 and my clients' money and your Lordship's time as the forum
38 for what I call a collateral dispute or argument,
39 interesting though it may be, between people like
40 Mr. Hopkins on the one hand and people like Mr. Mallinson
41 on the other.
42
43 MR. MORRIS: I am afraid Mr. Mallinson gave a great deal of
44 evidence on comparisons between plantation forests and
45 natural forests and problems, or not problems, that the
46 industry has in trying to maintain diversity and
47 biodiversity and changing practices. A lot of that is
48 general expert opinion about the general problems you have
49 with plantation forestry.
50
51 If the Plaintiffs are willing to accept -- I believe
52 Mr. Mallinson indicated he was willing to accept -- that
53 plantations forests are ecologically bound to be less
54 diverse ----
55
56 MR. RAMPTON: In a sense, yes, of course, that is right. My
57 Lord, again, I do not interrupt through any lack of
58 courtesy, but really that is not the question in this
59 case. The only way in which McDonald's could not have an
60 impact on trees, whether great or small, is to stop using
