The Battle to Save Australia’s Ancient Forests

 

What motivates a doctor or an artist to chain themselves to trees and risk jail time?

Hundreds of ordinary citizens are volunteering in a battle to protect an ancient rainforest in the Australian state of Tasmania. They are determined to stop the construction of a tailings dam by a Chinese mining company, saying it threatens endangered wildlife and 500-year-old trees.

Despite tough new penalties for protesters, they are prepared to break the law for their beliefs.

The weirdest place on earth Tasmania - Sir David Attenborough

In the dry east, rare white wallabies graze on the plains, and jack jumper ants build huge nests – these venomous ants are amongst the most dangerous on earth. In the west, where it can rain nearly every day of the year, caves light up with the magical spectacle of thousands of glow-worms, and the trees are 100-meter towering monsters. Rivers are home to the peculiar platypus and world’s largest freshwater invertebrate, the Tasmanian giant lobster. Miniature penguins come ashore to breed, and as winter approaches, the southern lights dance in the sky. Tasmania’s isolation and unique climate have created a world that is as weird as it is wonderful.