Ordaining trees, a practice unique to Thailand, has saved forests from being logged in other parts of the country. "It's an ancient solution to a modern problem,"says Sanitsuda Ekachai, a Bangkok Post columnist who often writes about religious issues. And Thailand's environment needs all the help it can get. The Chao Phraya River basin is a biological disaster; the Gulf of Thailand is contaminated with cyanide, mercury and other heavy metals.