Guest guest Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Today for you 37 new articles about earth's trees! (234th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com . --British Columbia: 1) enabling bankrupt loggers, 2) New coastal stilldelayed,3)SaveStill creek, 4)Queen Charlotte cut level declines, --Washington: 5) Weyco can even clearcut along the roads, --Oregon: 6) Army corps to cut 120 Birch Trees, 7) Industry doesn't prevent fires, --Idaho: 8) Limit home building to limit firefighting costs --Montana: 9) State lands salvage logging is out of control --Colorado: 10) Eagle Nest Wilderness --Michigan: 11) Property owner in trouble for cutting 1,200 trees --USA: 12) Battling an Industrial Strength Recreation agenda --Canada: 13) The final logging plan --Africa: 14) China takes Africa --Algeria: 15) War ruins lives and forests --Cameroon: 16) stopping illegal logging makes forests more profitable --Tanzania: 17) Stopping a forest officer who was doing his job --Uganda: 18) heavy rainfall and deforestation --Zimbabwe: 19) 400 000 hectares of forest lost annually --Namibia: 20) Family logging --Guatemala: 21) Marlin mine --Nicaragua: 22) Father Andres Tamayo --Brazil: 23) Logging, mining, ranches go bust in 20 years, 24) Kicking out envoros, 25) new lower middle class, 26) Hardwood farmers seek investers, --Paraguay: 27) Wildfire destroys 2.47 million acres --Tibet: 28) Planting 53,000 hectares of trees --Southeast Asia: 29) Mekong river --Philippines: 30) reforesting with mangroves --Malaysia: 31) Burden of proof on loggers --Indonesia: 32) Selling carbon credit conservation, 33) doubling palm oil production, --Australia: 34) 128 scientists oppose Gunns, 35) Industry disgust at the VEAC, --World-wide:36)How conservation strategies fail, 37)Heroes At the Portals of Initiation, British Columbia: 1) Two years ago P & T was beginning to log mountain caribou habitat in Boyd Creek, a tributary of the Incomappleux. Protesters blocked the road. The Supreme Court ordered them to move, but before they could break camp, a massive, natural rock fall came down on a nearby bridge. As Pope & Talbot logging company thrashes in the last throes of bankruptcy, desperately seeking cash to pay off its creditors, the Ministry of Forests is suddenly working to open the only road into the Valley. There the company holds rights to log antique inland rainforest with trees up to 1,800 years old and four metres thick, as well as high-elevation forest needed by the endangered Central Selkirk mountain caribou. On September 14, the Valhalla Wilderness Society received word that Ministry of Forests is opening the road. The Incomappleux River is a very important tributary to the Columbia River system for spawning bull trout, a blue-listed species at risk. At this time the trout are fighting their way up the river to spawn. Due to the steepness of the canyon it is impossible to prevent debris from entering the river. Craig Pettitt, a director of the Valhalla Wilderness Society, inspected the area and found that the Ministry of Forests had felled trees into the river. " This is a big subsidy by the taxpayers to P & T and whatever mining interests have been lobbying for access. Are the last remaining big trees and the last remaining habitat for these endangered species going to be wantonly destroyed to pay off Pope & Talbot's bills? " http://www.vws.org 2) " Minister Coleman told the legislature in March that he would release a new coastal forestry plan in May, and this followed a string of broken promises of earlier release dates for the plan. Now it's September and we're still waiting for a recovery plan for the coastal forest industry, " said Bob Simpson, the MLA for Cariboo North and the NDP's forest critic, in a recent news release. Simpson came to Campbell River last May to speak at a United Steelworkers union meeting. At the time, he warned that workers needed to be ready to weather coming changes to the forestry industry. He pointed out how in the past, Campbell River has survived economic downturns and changes to the forestry industry while other communities have withered to almost nothing. But that could change. " Campbell River has been protected to some point from the transitions. I don't think that's going to continue much longer, " he said. He also told Steelworkers that the Elk Falls mill's days were numbered. " Pulp – not to be crass – is on its last legs in B.C., " he said. With 600 pulp and paper mill workers off the job since August 31, and no end in sight for the coastal forestry strike, his words could prove to be prophetic. Catalyst Paper is struggling to weather the strike, which has curtailed the mill's supply of wood chips which it uses to make pulp and paper. Simpson says he is pressuring Coleman to reveal his plan in order to jump-start the coastal industry. " The coastal forest industry needs leadership, not excuses and delays. The release of the B.C. Liberal plan may act as a stimulus to help move the collective bargaining discussions along and can serve as a place to start a real debate about the future of the Coast industry, " Simpson said. http://www.campbellrivermirror.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=6 & cat=23 & id=10670\ 61 & more=0 3) Specific to the Still Creek watershed, the City of Burnaby did approve the integrated stormwater management plan for Still Creek, and this plan identifies ecologically sensitive areas such as Willingdon, which is prone to flooding every year. Trees absorb water. Asphalt and more cars do not absorb water. The Willingdon area of Still Creek is an ecologically sensitive area that is also home to many species of birds. It is difficult to comprehend that the City of Burnaby would approve the Still Creek integrated stormwater management plan; would spend civic dollars in meetings, PowerPoints and promotions of the river; write a new bylaw for trees and officially protest Highway 1 due to the adverse environmental impact. And yet, without qualm, it would fell 12 hectares of alder forest on the north side of Still Creek to turn it into a parking lot for more cars. This definitely sends mixed signals. Why the city isn't making any demands on the developers to build Leeds gold and offset plant 12 hectares' worth of size trees in the Still Creek watershed is indeed bewildering and inconsistent behavior that serves only to erode the public trust. To the City of Burnaby's credit, there is a public hearing for the proposed car lot near Still Creek set for Oct. 23. For any who may want to comment on the damage, they will listen. To set the record straight, it wasn't just the air quality and it's more than just a tree. http://www.canada.com/burnabynow/news/opinion/story.html?id=d850a6af-d979-4cbb-9\ 4c8-c22cd880ac fd & k=48346 4) Lands Minister Pat Bell has pledged that the land-use plan will assure a harvest of 800,000 cubic metres a year, down from the current allowable annual cut of 1.3 milli Queen Charlotte Islands -- cubic metres. However, Guujaaw said that an independent report commissioned by the government on timber harvesting shows the 800,000 cubic-metre target is not economically feasible if agreed-to protected areas and special zones go ahead. " That report was done with the Ministry of Forests and it says it is physically possible to come up with 800,000 cubic metres but is it economic? " he said. Guujaaw said the Haida are standing behind the plan but are working toward an agreement that could allow 800,000 cubic metres initially. " We have agreed to that being an initial place to land for a while until we figure out what needs to be done to stabilize things here. " The forest industry is seeking over one million cubic metres a year, an objective companies say is possible if some of the details in the plan -- such as the number of trees that must be left standing to protect a monumental cedar -- are changed. The issue, said Hanif Karmally, chief financial officer at the Teal Jones Group, is that industry makes investments based on the assumption that annual harvests will be maintained. Teal Jones invested $40 million in a new small-log mill in Surrey on the basis that it would have access to its allowable annual cut from its licence in the Queen Charlottes. The Haida are concerned that licences are being treated as a commodity, being bought and sold by operators who log for a few years and then move on. Guujaaw said over the last eight years, the largest licence on the islands, held by Western Forest Products, has had four owners, beginning with the 1999 sale of MacMillan Bloedel to Weyerhaeuser. " Nobody is here for the long term. Everybody is hoping to make a buck in the short term, " he said. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=3b7d9491-9fb0-475\ f-a234-46cfef5 e533f Washington: 5) Weyerhaeuser engineer Jim Hunt told the group how vital infrastructure - such as a state highway or the Pacific Power transmission line to Cannon Beach - sometimes forces timber companies to work with multiple agencies to re-arrange logging operations. That was the case in a 33-acre clear-cut at its Mail Corner unit, which lies alongside Highway 26 southeast of Cannon Beach and has a fish-bearing creek and a power line criss-crossing through it. " This was definitely one of our most challenging sites, " said Hunt. " This unit did require a lot of input from a lot of agencies. " All logging in the state is subject to laws requiring companies to leave a buffer of trees standing alongside streams and major highways. But leaving scenic or stream buffers too close to the highway or power lines can present a hazard to drivers and neighboring towns, said Hunt, especially during winter storms that blow through the North Coast and knock down unprotected tree stands. Working with officials at the Oregon Department of Forestry, Pacific Power and Light, the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Weyerhaeuser eventually worked out a way to cut more buffer trees to protect power lines and highway drivers. In exchange, the company removed a log culvert to improve fish passage on Mail Creek. Timber companies have teamed up with watershed councils and citizen volunteers on voluntary habitat restoration projects, said Glenn Ahrens, an Oregon State University extension forester and organizer of Thursday's tour. http://www.dailyastorian.com/main.asp?SectionID=2 & SubSectionID=398 & ArticleID=452\ 58 & TM=38092.3 Oregon: 6) PORTLAND - Work has begun to cut down more than 120 birch trees that the Army Corp of Engineers claims must be cut down to protect the levee. The trees are along Marine Drive in the Bridgeton neighborhood just east of Interstate 5. Officials say it will take four or five five weeks to cut them all down Residents are objecting, saying that recent scientific proof shows the trees actually protect the levee, and the drainage district does not have to cut them down. The neighborhood wants the district to wait until the Corps finishes another look at the scientific evidence on the issue. But the Corps says it can't wait without taking more risks on the levee. http://www.koin.com/Global/story.asp?S=7102068 6) He ignores scientific research in favor of timber industry rhetoric by falsely asserting that intensively logging old trees will minimize wildfire and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the myths perpetuated in Dennison's commentary: Myth 1: Managed forests don't burn. Thinning and even clear-cutting of forests is no guarantee that a forest won't burn. Thinning may reduce fire severity; however, poorly planned or executed thinning may actually increase the susceptibility of a forest to fire by increasing wind speeds and temperatures beneath the forest canopy. Myth 2: Wildfires are only raging in our unmanaged national forests. The majority of wildfires burning across the country have been in managed forests, and a preponderance of wildfires occur on private land. Myth 3: Forests " locked up " as wilderness, roadless or parks are more subject to catastrophic wildfires. Historically, intensively managed stands are the forests most likely to be characterized as overstocked (crowded) and therefore likely candidates for high severity wildfire. If we are going to get a grip on our problems, from global climate change to local forestry, we need facts and good data, not timber industry spin. — Rich Fairbanks, Jacksonville http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/vcs/letters/archives/2007/09/forest_fire_smo.\ html Idaho: 8) This year, taxpayers will spend an estimated one billion dollars to protect homes from wildfires. A new report out Tuesday says the worst is yet to come. Unless policy makers and home builders decide to change the pattern of development. Correspondent Elizabeth Wynne Johnson reports. Lightning and wind may be beyond human control. But building in the likely path of wildfires isn't. That's the message behind a study by environmental research group Headwaters Economics. The study added up all the private land bordering on public forest land in 11 western states. It found only a small percentage has homes and cabins on it. Getting rural counties to restrict further building on the rest of it may be an uphill battle. But that's exactly what Headwaters' Montana-based executive director Ray Rasker hopes to do. Ray Rasker: " We're allowing the permitting of homes next to the forest boundary without really understanding the true costs – both to firefighters, to taxes, and also in terms of how it ties up agencies' budgets so they can't do other things. " The report predicts that if just half of the available land alongside public forests were developed, annual firefighting costs could quadruple. http://headwaterseconomics.org/wildfire Montana: 9) " Unfortunately, this is becoming pretty common for us now, " said Hayes, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Southwest Land Office's area silviculturist. " We have to look at fire salvage sales almost every year now. It's something you don't necessarily want to get good at. " On Tuesday, Hayes and Sarah Pierce, DNRC's Clearwater Unit management forester, were busy developing plans for harvesting dead and dying trees and to complete accompanying restoration work on a bit less than 2,000 acres of state lands burned by the 36,000-acre Jocko Lakes fire near Seeley Lake. They're not alone. DNRC foresters are putting together similar plans for school trust lands burned this summer by the Chippy Creek, Black Cat, Mile Marker 124 and Tin Cup fires. " It was a tough season for us, " said David Groeschl, DNRC Forest Management Bureau chief. Wildfires burned through about 10,500 acres of state school trust lands this summer. Somewhere near 7,300 acres of that total was forested. Most of the major fires occurred north of Missoula in western Montana. " Last year, most of the large fires happened in eastern Montana, " Groeschl said. " We probably salvaged about 5 (million) to 6 million board feet. " This year, Groeschl expects the volume of salvage timber from state lands will be in the ballpark of 26 million to 28 million board feet. The bulk of the harvest will come from Jocko Lakes and Chippy Creek. The estimated harvest volume for Jocko Lakes is between 8 million and 11 million board feet. Chippy Creek could go as high as 12 million. To ensure the state captures as much value from the timber as possible, the salvage logging has to be completed quickly. Montana school trust lands are managed, in part, to raise revenue for state schools and other public beneficiaries. About 10 percent of the state's share of elementary, middle and high school funding is provided through the management of 5.2 million acres of state lands through revenues generated from timber, agriculture, mining and other activities. " Our defined mission is to generate revenue over the long term, " Hayes said. " We want to be able to recover some value and do what we can to keep this land productive for future generations. " http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/09/19/news/top/news01.txt Colorado: 10) If you're in an area deemed " wilderness, " you're in a really special place, said Chuck Ogilby, a longtime Vail resident. " It makes an area absolutely pristine, and that is such an incredibly rare thing in the world today, " he said. There's plenty of wild land around Eagle County — 85 percent of the county is public land. But that land — including its wildlife and water — can still face threats, whether it's logging, mining or snowmobiles. Wilderness designation helps protect land from those threats. Three such areas are already in the county: The Eagles Nest Wilderness encompasses the Gore Range, the Holy Cross Wilderness covers more than 100,000 acres around Mount of the Holy Cross, and a small portion of the Flat Tops Wilderness is in the county. Wilderness areas ban snowmobiles and mountain bikes and limit mining and logging. Ogilby said he supports the creation of more " wilderness " around Eagle County, and a new campaign is trying to do just that. Three regional groups are eyeing 670,000 acres in the White River National Forest for the " wilderness area " designation. Much of that land is in Eagle County. http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070921/NEWS/70920042 Michigan: 11) It's been called the largest environmental disaster in West Bloomfield's history: 1,200 trees and saplings leveled from a wooded five-acre residential parcel off Maple Road without the township's knowledge or approval. Cut down roughly eight years ago by a homeowner who wanted to make room for his specialty hot air balloon collection, the missing trees on Flowerstone Drive in the Maple Place Villas Condominiums remains a contentious topic in West Bloomfield. The township sued the homeowner for violating its woodland regulations -- both the woodlands and wetlands on the site are protected -- and the township's wetlands and woodlands boards have denied after-the-fact permits. But township officials now want to go even further -- and that means restoring the property. At the direction of the township board, West Bloomfield's environmental staff is developing a plan to completely reforest the site, which they're hoping a judge will order the homeowner to do at the next court hearing on Oct. 16. " It's time that this end, " said Stan Levine, one of dozens of Maple Place Villas residents who've followed the case closely for years. " If this man wants to build a barn, then buy some land in an industrial park. It does not belong in a residential area. " http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070919/METRO02/709190379/100\ 9 USA: 12) During the past 10 years I wrote and distributed some 4000 updates detailing the progress of the Industrial Strength Recreation agenda. It was never my intention to be a chronicler of the loss of what had once made the National Forests and other public lands so special -- though it often times feels as if that is what I am doing. It was my belief and expectation that through a combination of outreach, activism and education, the Industrial Strength Recreation agenda could be derailed. The Western Slope No-Fee Coalition (WSNFC) has carefully gone over the 18 or so RFAs that are so far available to the public, and in just these 18 forests, the agency's proposals over the next five years will: **close 407 campgrounds (17% of sites in these 18 forests); **reduce capacity at 464 sites (20% of the total); **remove amenities (toilets, tables, trash cans, fire rings) at 243 sites (10% of total); **turn 225 sites over to concessionaires or partners (10% of total); **implement new fees at 136 sites (6%); **and increase fees at 170 sites (7%). We don't have time to wait until all the RFAs are published to alert Congress to these threats to our publicly-owned recreation sites! In some cases, the US Forest Service has already gone and removed water systems, toilets, picnic tables, and fire rings, and completely closed campgrounds and other developed recreation sites without ANY public notice at all. PLEASE CONTACT CONGRESS! The RFA process was not authorized by Congress; the US Forest Service calls it an internal matter. It is up to you and me to bring the RFA-PPOWs to Congress's attention, by requesting that the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee hold oversight hearings on recreation policy, particularly on the RFAs and on the agencies' implementation of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), the public lands recreation fee program. http://www.wildwilderness.org Canada: 13) The Geelong Environment Council has made the following submission to the 2007-08 Wood Utilisation Plan. The council presumes that this is the final logging plan and that logging for woodchips and saw logs will cease at the end of this logging season. Many in the community felt that a success had been achieved in protecting the Otways forests with the proclamation of the Great Otway National Park and adjoining Forest Park areas. However, we now see 1120ha proposed for logging from which a mere 3335cu/m of B+ grade saw logs will be obtained with 35,000 cu/m of C and D grade logs and a massive 10,565cu/m of woodchips. Sadly 75 per cent of Otway forests logged this summer will be used for woodchips. Once again it is: `The Otways, down to the sea in chips'. (With apologies to John Masefield). Some tourism and valuable biodiversity areas will be lost, in particular near Lavers Hill. This is unacceptable. Government must be urged to compulsorily buy out a portion of the Murnane licence to at least reduce the impact of this season of logging. Areas of harvesting for woodchip grade timber should be ceased. The community made its views perfectly clear regarding protection of the Otways in the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council process. There are several issues. It is unacceptable to have coupes which will have an adverse impact on tourism and the amenity of the forest areas which have been established for the whole community and for flora and fauna protection. Therefore the coupe of 70ha near Lavers Hill must not be logged at all. Carry-over coupes must not be logged. If the timber was not extracted in the year in which it was allocated this timber must be forgone. http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2007/09/20/7020_opinion.html Africa: 14) Nairobi Lawyer Francis Okello, who is also chairman of the board of directors of Barclays Bank this week presented a paper at the Commonwealth Law Association conference in Nairobi. At first sight, China's appetite for natural resources has come as a blessing for Africa. Indeed, it has benefits; after all, China's demand for raw commodities has contributed significantly to Africa's exports. " In recent days, the Chinese have come out fighting, following the recall of a range of their goods in the Western markets because they were dangerous or shoddy. Chinese diplomats have said that's just a jealousy-fuelled campaign by Western businesses, which are being beaten out of world markets by products from its red-hot economy. Like many people on the continent, Mr Okello also thinks this good for Africa. He says in the paper: " In order to fuel this surging demand for natural resources, the Chinese Government has concentrated on acquisition of natural resources from African countries. At first sight, China's appetite for natural resources has come as a blessing for Africa. Indeed, it has benefits; after all, China's demand for raw commodities has contributed significantly to Africa's exports. " I guess because of his views, the Chinese Embassy cannot say he is a jealous competitor when he notes with a heavy tone of concern that despite its good works, China pays very scant attention, if at all, to such issues as sustainable development, democratic governance or human rights, and that: " This has been greatly debated recently in relation to China's complicity in the Darfur conflict in Sudan. " " This opportunistic ambivalence also exists with regard to the practice of Chinese mining and logging companies abroad " . The paper notes, for example, that approximately 70 per cent of China's timber import from sub-Saharan Africa is illegal. In Gabon and Cameroon, it is estimated that the Chinese evade taxes on 60 per cent of the area allocated as forest concessions. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chinese companies are reported to clear three times more trees than allowed. Then, they also don't live up to the obligation to process a part of their exports in the country of origin. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709130048.html Algeria: 15) During the height of the fighting in Algeria, many forests were burnt and trees cut down near main roads to prevent Islamists using them as cover to stage ambushes. Some 200,000 people have died in Algeria since Islamists took up arms in 1992 after the army cancelled an election an Islamist party had been poised to win. Violence has increased in recent months, with a wave of suicide attacks, claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - the new name for one of the most radical Algerian Islamist groups. " Here are my boys who were 'eaten' by the fire, " says Ahmed Smail, holding photographs of his two boys, aged three and five. His wife also died when his village of Ath Smail in eastern Algeria was engulfed in flames during a forest fire, which some blame on the army's campaign against Islamist fighters. " I was in the town of Tizi Ouzou when the fire reached the village. My wife called out for me, shouting and screaming. She was terrified, panicking, " Mr Smail said before collapsing in tears. " I saw their bodies - they were completely burnt. It was atrocious. " While they were the only human victims, huge areas of olive groves were destroyed - one of the region's main sources of income. " After losing our olive and fruit trees, we cannot keep our animals, especially sheep, as there is nothing for them to graze on, " said Mohammed Seddik Smail. These are the " collateral victims " of Algeria's fight against what it calls terrorists. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6989700.stm Cameroon: 16) Illegal logging activities, it has been disclosed, hamper the sustainable management of the Cameroon forest and render the sector economically less performing, as about FCFA 50 billion is lost annually as a result of illegal logging. The minister explained that the government intends to carry out reforms which will enable the forest to contribute better to the national economy. To realize this objective, the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife Development has intensified control, the promotion of dialogue at the national and international levels, as well as the regular publication of disputes in the area of forest exploitation. He observed that some positive results have been obtained, though much still remains to be done. This was the reason behind the August 22 meeting, during which participants brainstormed on measures that could be put in place to improve on Cameroon's forest governance. Participants examined issues such as timber exploitation, poaching, non timber forest products and community forest concessions. The meeting was concluded with the setting up of a six-man committee to explore present possibilities of intensifying strategies to fight against illegal logging and other destructive activities. http://www.leffortcamerounais.com/2007/09/illegal-logging.html Tanzania: 17) " Jovin Sapora is a hard working forest officer. Kasulu District authorities have not treated him fairly by changing his place of work. We are struggling to bring him back to his former post. " Mr Bwanamdogo says that Kasulu District Council has not been fair in treating the case of Mr Sapora, who is one of forest officers in the district. Instead of being in the field to foresee forest conservation, Mr Sapora is now warming a chair at the district council, without any substantial thing to do. Mr Sapora feels that he has been mistreated because of his seriousness to fight tree felling in the district, done by senior officers including counsellors. " There have not been some reported cases of deforestation for disciplinary actions ever since the transfer of Mr Sapora and this indicates that all is not well, " says Mr Bwanamdogo. The councillors ordered Mr Sapora`s transfer to the DCs office recently where he was assigned normal duties because he was against the illegal cutting of trees and the burning of bushes. The DC says that some villagers in Kasulu district were promised by the constituency's councillors that whoever voted for them would be permitted to use the reserved forests, adding that the promise made the villagers to be defiant in accusing Mr Sapora that he was corrupt. " I am against the transfer of Mr Sapora because he was determined in his work properly. He was also confident and a couple of cases were being reported when he was in the field, " says Mr Bwanamdogo. Mr Sapora was transferred in March last year from his working post at Kwaga/Kasangezi forest to Kasulu Town forestry office. " You are not allowed to execute any government duty without permission from the district forest office, " reads in part, a letter signed by the Kasulu district forest officer, Mr L A Sadick. http://www.dailynews-tsn.com/page.php?id=8612 Uganda: 18) In Uganda, 420,000 people have been directly affected by the floods. Six million in 22 districts are at risk of contracting water-borne diseases like dysentery and cholera, as water sources have been contaminated and latrines are overflowing. While experts point at El Nino and La Nina to explain the unusually heavy rainfall, deforestation and climate change have exacerbated the problem. Trees absorb the water and protect the soil from erosion. The mudslides in the Elgon region, which have already killed people and blocked roads, are a direct result of the careless felling of trees - for charcoal, wood, or to clear land for agriculture. Trees also absorb carbon dioxide emissions, released from industrial activities, vehicles and burning of bushes. The more deforestation, the more carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere, causing global warming and erratic weather patterns. But there is more. Greenhouse gases also contribute to flooding, a study published by the journal Nature has found. Higher atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide reduce the ability of plants to suck water out of the ground and " breathe " out the excess. As a result, less water passes through the plant and into the air in the form of evaporation. And more water stays in the land, eventually running off into rivers when the soil becomes saturated, and causing flooding. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709180091.html Zimbabwe: 19) The Forestry Company of Zimbabwe recently indicated that the country is losing large swathes of forestry, as much as 400 000 hectares annually as a result of the energy crisis. More and more people are turning to fuelwood as the energy crisis takes its toll in sub-Saharan Africa. Urban demand for fuelwood is accelerating the degradation of woody vegetation. In Zimbabwe, advanced deforestation and soil erosion in marginal areas with poor rainfall has forced many people to migrate to urban areas and in so doing increasing the demand for electricity. Deforestation is affecting many rural people, and is caused primarily by the need for fuelwood for the curing of tobacco and tea, by excessive felling of timber for domestic and export markets, by agricultural production, by urbanisation, by bushfires, and, more significantly, by demand for fuelwood by both rural and urban households. As more land around the towns and cities is further depleted of its remaining vegetation, a vicious cycle of soil erosion is set in motion. Not only is the energy crisis affecting the generation of power but the use of fossil fuel is also impoverishing the majority of Africans as more and more funds of the national budget go towards the importation of oil and other petroleum products. With world crude oil prices nearing US$80 a barrel, economies across Africa are suffering under soaring energy costs. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709180011.html Namibia: 20) The old man lifts the axe and with it splits the hard wood with a powerful blow. Around him whole families, young children, teenagers and elderly women collect the logs and pack them into large bags. It's a hot afternoon and the temperature hovers around 35 Celsius in the Na Jaqna Conservancy east of Grootfontein. Dozens of bags packed with logs from camelthorn trees wait along the gravel road between the Omatako Valley Rest Camp and the tiny Omatako village, 40 kilometres apart. A commercial farmer sends a truck once a week to collect the bags. They are exported to South Africa as firewood for barbecues and in winter for fireplaces in homes. " It is hard work, but since everybody helps and lends a hand, we manage, " says the old man. Only wood from dead trees is taken and the annual quota is around 300 tonnes. The farmer, Dawie Kok, pays some 150 San casual workers living in the conservancy, each supporting a family, so over 1 000 people benefit. Kok works in close co-operation with the Directorate of Forestry in the Ministry of Agriculture and the German Development Service (DED). " We started on a small scale but it grew as word got round and the community forest projects came off the ground, " Kok told The Namibian this week. " We are now looking at sending firewood to Portugal during the European winter, as camelthorn wood is very popular for use in fireplaces in Portuguese homes, " he added. He provides the bags, the tractor, some equipment and obtains the logging permits. He has another quota further east in the M'Kata community forest. Kok also helps with food supplies and gives workers a ride on the truck into Grootfontein so that they can stock up on maize meal, tea, tobacco and sugar. " Workers get paid per tonne of wood and on average each one earns around N$1000 per month. " http://allafrica.com/stories/200709140448.html Guatemala: 21) The Marlin mine is in the highlands of western Guatemala and it's almost 100 percent indigenous there. When the company- it was a Canadian company- came in around 2003, they offered to buy homes. These people are very poor, many of them sold their land. But nobody knew what open pit mining was and they got a rude awakening when the development started. They were blasting entire sides of mountains. I visited homes that were literally cracked in half because the blasting was happening too close to villages. They took me down to their farming plots and showed me where their sheep and cattle had died because they said they had drank contaminated water. And this is a huge mining operation. It just literally has sheered off entire sides of a mountain. http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=07-P13-00038 & segmentID=7 Nicaragua: 22) When I was in Honduras I went to the Department of Olancho. And there a priest named Father Andres Tamayo lives and works. He founded an environmental organization some years ago to try and protect the forest in his region from both illegal logging and logging that is legal but is fairly rapacious because there's very little oversight. And when Father Tamayo took me out into the forest to show me what was going on—it was pretty depressing. The loggers basically use bulldozers to push down anything in their way. Trees are taken from right from the edge of creeks, which contributes to the erosion that causes problems during heavy rains. There's nothing left on the ground. It's so parched because there's no more canopy that very little can grow. Father Tamayo works with communities, with local people, to organize, sometimes get in the street, on the highways, and block these logging trucks. It's very, very dangerous work. He also works in association with other Catholic groups around the country to—right now they're trying to reform the forestry law. And Father Tamayo said he was hoping for some kind of reform within a year. I got there and he was conducting a wedding ceremony in a very tiny cinderblock church in one of the villages he presides over. He was clearly a very popular man, quite jovial, and when he came out of the church he changed into an Amnesty International t-shirt. He's on their watch list actually. And just said, " let's go see what they've done to the forest. " So he got in his truck with three of his military bodyguards and he went out ahead and I followed him in another truck and we went out to the forest and fortunately he didn't tell me until after we came back that last year this was where snipers had tried to kill him and instead killed a colleague that was next to him in the car. He told me that everyday he expected it would be his last. But he didn't have a choice. This is what he felt that he had to do. http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=07-P13-00038 & segmentID=7 Brazil: 23) In the past three decades, 700,000 square kilometres of jungle have been consumed, 17 percent of the original forested area. Logging produces an initial boom of prosperity, because the extraction of timber, in most cases illegal, is very lucrative. Then come the farmers and ranchers. But the wealth lasts, at most, 20 years. Because of the Amazon's abundant rainfall, farming is complicated. When the timber runs out, there is a tendency of the local economy to collapse. Only a few, mostly those working in mining, escape this pattern. This dynamic was revealed by researchers Adalberto Veríssimo and Danielle Celentano, of Imazon (Institute of Man and Environment of the Amazon) in a study published in August, " The Advance of the Frontier in the Amazon: From Boom to Collapse " , which analyses the region's economic, social and environmental indicators. Celentano describes the deforestation as a wave that cultivates jobs and income through the exploitation of timber. But it also cultivates violence and degradation of natural resources. After the wave passes, " the conflicts diminish, as do the benefits of logging, which is especially predatory, given that agriculture cannot absorb the same amount of labour or generate the same income, " said Celentano in an interview. The experts divided the 770 Amazonian municipalities into four zones: the non-forest, which covers 24 percent of the area of sites in transition between the savannahs of the Cerrado and the jungle; areas currently being exploited (14 percent, with 26 municipalities); the already deforested (10 percent, with 218 municipalities); and the forested (52 percent of the region, with logging at five percent). Their research shows that the destruction of the forest has produced more harm than wealth in the local economy -- a debt that the entire planet ends up paying. The Amazon contributes just over eight percent of Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP), but its deforestation is responsible for nearly 70 percent of the country's climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. Rural Amazon producers argue that if Europe and the United States logged their forests in order to grow, " we can do it too. " http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39328 24) On Aug. 20 in Juína, a municipality of northwestern Mato Grosso, dozens of farmers, with the support of Mayor Hilton Campos, expelled two French journalists and seven Greenpeace and indigenous rights activists who tried to visit a recently logged area in Rio Preto, which the Enawene-nawe people claim as their ancestral territory. " The cities along the agricultural frontiers in the Amazon are lawless lands. The reaction of the rural producers here is normal. For them, our objective is to block their agricultural and ranch projects, " Marcelo Marquesina, forestry engineer and Greenpeace campaigner for the Amazon, said in an interview. In late August, a federal court suspended 99 projects for rural settlement created since 2005 by the National Institute of Colonisation and Agrarian Reform (INCRA) in the west of Pará state. The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed by Greenpeace. The complaint argued that INCRA accelerated the creation of settlements in biologically rich areas of the jungle in order to benefit lumber interests. (*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS-Inter Press Service and IFEJ-International Federation of Environmental Journalists.) http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39328 25) The Economist magazine recently identified what it described as a new lower middle class " emerging almost overnight " in Brazil and Latin America - millions of people who are " the main beneficiaries of the region's hard-won economic stability " . Credit must go to Brazil's president, who as a child worked as a shoe shine boy and peanut seller and only learned to read when he was 10-years-old, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. However, could the protest actions of global environmentalists threaten this booming country's new feeling of security? They are incensed at Brazil's importation of rainforest wood and successfully forced officials in one American seaside resort to reconsider its decision to buy $1.1 million wood from Brazilian rainforests to repair their boardwalk. In an astonishingly successful online campaign, nearly 50,000 e-mails flooded the mayor's in-box in Ocean City, New Jersey from as far away as Australia, the Philippines, South Africa and New Zealand. However, the Mayor is worried that scrapping the deal could lead to in a lawsuit. However, this could be the start of similar campaigns which will force government leaders and other authorities to place the needs of the environment first. Ten years ago, Ocean City voted never to use tropical rainforest wood again for its 2.5-mile-long boardwalk that is a mixture of ipe and domestic yellow pine, citing the damage that logging operations are doing to the Amazon. But in January, it decided that it could use wood certified as having been harvested responsibly. Ipe is a flowering tree that towers over others in the forest canopy and can grow to 100 feet. It is Brazil's largest timber export, 50 percent of which is sold to customers in the United States. Ipe has been used in boardwalk projects from coast to coast, including Atlantic City, New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Miami Beach and Long Beach and Santa Monica, California. It is obviously big business for Brazil. But not as big as biofuels. Brazil is determined to continue its global domination as the world's leading producer of biofuel, it wants to produce enough biofuels to power the world's cars. However, in order to succeed, it is crucial it proves that its rainforests are not endangered as a result, that they will not be hacked down and replaced by sugar cane plantations. http://elleeseymour.com/2007/09/18/will-environmentalists-scupper-brazils-succes\ s/ 26) Fazenda Vallas, a Brazilian tropical tree plantation located in western Bahia, is looking for a limited number of investment partners to join them in a project to plant tropical hardwood trees. For as little as $84,900 you can buy a 25-acre plot of land, adjacent to a federal highway, with electricity access, and planted with up to 15,000 Guanandi trees. Each parcel is expected to generate over US$3 million in revenue over 20 years (starting in year six) using today's hardwood prices. A detailed harvest plan outlining the annual projected cash flow is available upon request. Title insurance is offered and the land can be purchased through a self-directed IRA. These treed parcels are a hands free investment. The purchase price includes the land, closing costs, site preparation, planting and fertilizing, seedlings, 3 year guarantee on the trees planted and 5 years of real estate management. There are no extra fees or restrictions on the owners. Demand for this wood is great. Only about 1% of tropical hardwoods currently come from tree plantations and not enough new plantations are being started. Natural sources for this tree are expected to dry up within 20 years and government restrictions on harvesting Guanandi trees from Brazilian forests are about to be implemented. The expectation is for prices to soar. http://www.gringoes.com/articles.asp?ID_Noticia=1945 Paraguay: 27) Asuncion -- Wildfires have destroyed 2.47 million acres in Paraguay, causing irreparable harm to the parched South American country's biodiversity, it was reported Monday. Samuel Jara, a supervision department director for SEAM, the nation's environmental agency, said San Pedro, the nation's poorest region, has been the hardest hit, Prensa Latina reported Monday. He said forests and crops have been devastated and it will take years for the soil to recover so it can again be cultivated, the newspaper reported. The SEAM official said homes of indigenous people and farmers have been destroyed, and farm livestock and wild animals have been killed by the uncontrolled fires. http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/09/17/paraguays_forests_burn_unabated\ /7192/ Tibet: 28) Lhasa - With a total investment of 600 million yuan (79 million U.S. dollars), more than 53,000 hectares of trees will be planted by 2010 around major towns, alongside trunk roads, airports, scenic spots and border ports in 53 counties of seven cities. The efforts target at increasing the region's forest coverage rate by 0.04 percent to 11.35 percent, according to the Tibet financial bureau. The new forests will help to preserve 1.86 million tons of soil and release 1.59 million tons of oxygen, as well as improve the quality of surface and underground water. In Tibet, 217,000 square kilometers -- about 18 percent of China's territory -- are classified as desert and almost 400 square kilometers of land is affected by desertification every year, official statistics show. The project will also provide nearly 7,000 jobs for farmers and herdsmen. Measures were taken to preserve virgin forests, and to transform farmland and pastures to forests and grassland in Tibet during the national 10th five-year plan period between 2001 to 2005. The region, accounting for 12.5 percent of China's total territory, will focus on forest and grass plantation to build barriers against wind and sandstorms to consolidate soil preservation. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/19/content_6754752.htm Southeast Asia: 29) As it makes its journey from the Tibetan Plateau to the South China Sea, the Mekong River is a changing kaleidoscope of cultures, geography and plant and animal life. From a small trickle in Tibet, the river quickly gathers steam and carves magnificent gorges through Yunnan Province of China. It then turns into what it remains for most of the rest of its journey: a fast-flowing, meandering waterway that forms the heart and soul of mainland Southeast Asia. During its passage through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, the Mekong bursts with color and life. One hundred different ethnic groups live in the Mekong Basin and their livelihoods and cultures are intimately connected with the river's natural cycles. The river boasts one of the world's most diverse and productive inland fisheries, supplying the people of the region with about 80% of their protein needs. Whether it's the Great Lake of Cambodia (the country's fish basket) or the tropical wetlands of the Mekong Delta (the rice bowl of Vietnam), the river sustains the people and ecosystems of the region. Yet this beautiful, dynamic and thriving river system is under threat. While the people living along the banks of the river see the Mekong as a resource to be nourished and sustained for future generations, governments and powerful foreign interests are greedily eyeing the Mekong's vast development potential. Where the people see a free-flowing river of life, governments and dam-builders see a cascade of hydroelectric dams to power the cities of Thailand and Vietnam. The next decade is critical for the future of the Mekong. The region is riddled with undemocratic and corrupt governments who seem intent on pushing forward scores of dams on the Mekong mainstream and tributaries. China is building a cascade of eight dams on the Upper Mekong in Yunnan Province. Two of these projects have already been completed, and at least three more are under construction. The projects are already having an impact on water levels and fisheries in Northern Thailand and Laos, where people are reporting a 50% decline in fish catch since the second project, Dachaoshan, was completed in 2003. Once the bigger projects in the cascade are operational, we can expect to see far-reaching downstream impacts. http://www.irn.org/pubs/wrr/issues/WRR.V22.N2.pdf Philippines: 30) Conservationists urged government to help stem the alarming depletion of mangroves by converting idle fishponds into mangrove forests. In a resolution issued after a pond-mangrove rehabilitation workshop in Iloilo City last week, fisheries experts and other participants urged the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to implement their joint memorandum on the reversion of abandoned, undeveloped and under utilized areas covered by fishpond lease agreements (FLAs) to mangrove forests. An FLA is a privilege granted by the government to a person or group to occupy and rent public lands for the raising of fish and other aquatic products. The participants, including representatives from academe, mangrove and fisheries associations, local government units and non-government organizations said laws and guidelines on mangrove rehabilitation should be implemented to help address depletion. They pointed out that mangroves are among the most important and productive habitats in the coastal zone as these protect the coastline from typhoons and tsunamis, soil erosion and flooding. Mangroves also serve as shelter and feeding grounds to many commercially important marine and brackish water species, provide food and livelihood to coastal communities, and contribute to sustainable aquaculture. However, areas hosting mangroves have dropped from an estimated 450,000 hectares in 1918 to only 120,000 hectares " due to unsustainable utilization and continued conversion to fishponds. " One of the major causes of the depletion is the failure to revert idle fishponds into mangrove rehabilitation areas as provided by laws and policies like the DA-DENR Joint Memorandum Order No. 3 Series of 1991. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=89\ 950 Malaysia: 31) Laws will soon be changed to place the burden of proof on those found in possession of logs instead of the authorities having to prove that the logs were obtained illegally. The amendment to the National Forestry Act, to be made within the next few months, will see those suspected for carrying out illegal logging, having to prove the commodity was obtained from legal sources. Failing which, they will be deemed to have obtained the logs through illegal means. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the new law would enable better prosecution of those involved in illegal logging, which does not only cause damage to the environment but also tarnishes Malaysia's image in the eyes of the world. Najib admitted that prosecuting those who log illegally was currently difficult and even though cases were brought to court, the level of success was small. " This is because the need for burden of proof is high. We will fare better with this fundamental shift in the law, which we believe will be a sufficient deterrent. " We will also be using new technologies, including remote sensing to detect areas where such activities take place, " he said, after chairing the National Forestry Council's 21st meeting on Tuesday. He said illegal logging was a multi-dimensional issue as apart from it affecting the Government's policy in providing sustainable management to the environment, it also gave Malaysia a bad image. " The country's wood industry is worth RM23bil a year and if developed countries take action against us for illegal logging activities, it will affect the economy. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/9/18/nation/20070918142325 & sec=n\ ation Indonesia: 32) Carbon credits through forest conservation will play an important role in Aceh's recovery from decades of civil strife and the devastating 2004 tsunami, which left more than 167,000 people dead and 500,000 homeless in the Indonesia province, said Aceh governor Irwandi Jusuf in meeting in San Francisco. " The world needs more forests to store carbon, " he said. " Aceh can give you these forests. This is my obsession -- the forests of Aceh need to be kept well. " In one of his first moves as governor, Irwandi in March declared a moratorium on all logging in the province, which had seen an up tick in timber cutting for tsunami reconstruction efforts. The move -- met with derision by some in the Indonesian forestry sector -- was welcomed by environmentalists and appears to have diminished legal and illegal logging, which is rampant in other parts of the country. Aceh Governor Irwandi Jusuf, a former rebel who was one of only 40 survivors after the December 2004 tsunami struck the prison where he was incarcerated, is now one of Indonesia's leading supporters of forest conservation funded through carbon credits. Indonesia is currently the second largest producer of palm oil after Malaysia, and soon to be number one. Irwandi says that protecting Aceh's forests -- which are some of the largest blocks of rainforest remaining on the island of Sumatra -- is his top priority for rebuilding the economy. The next step, he says, is to promote economic growth through sustainable development and reforestation. " We can provide a lot of employment through a reforestation program, " said Irwandi. " People who used to be paid to cut forests can now be paid to reforest. Aceh has 3 million hectares (7.5 million acres) of degraded land that can be used for reforestation and agricultural expansion. I see three areas. Areas of no harvest which are preserved for wildlife, carbon, and other services; community forestry areas where degraded lands are replanted with fruit and timber trees that are then sustainably managed; and the remaining land for oil palm and rubber plantations. Irwandi says that Aceh needs money to start the program and believes that funds could come from carbon credits through avoided deforestation. " I think within six years we could have the world's biggest forest carbon offset program, " he said. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0918-aceh.html 33) Recently Indonesia revealed its plans to double crude palm oil (CPO) production by 2025, a goal that requires a two-fold increase in the oil palm yield. Under one major investment proposal Indonesia would develop about 1.8 million hectares of plantations in the border region in northern Kalimantan. Palm oil has also attracted new interests among investors partly due to its prospect to becoming the main ingredient for producing biodiesel to substitute traditional fossil fuel. Europe is at present the most aggressive region and market for biofuels which include biodiesel and bioethanol. The use of biofuels in the long run may reduce carbon emissions because during the process of growing biofuel producing plants, carbons from the atmosphere are actually stored in the plants. Contrary to the burning of fossil fuel which simply releases the carbon previously stored underground, the biofuel production-and-use can in itself create a net carbon sink. However, growing large scale oil palm plantations by converting natural forests is shrinking the carbon sink because plantations do not store carbons as much as natural forests. Additionally, for every drop of increase in palm oil production additional lands need to be occupied, unlike in the fossil oil production operation where only limited drilling sites are used. http://www.thejakartapost.com/misc/PrinterFriendly.asp Australia: 34) Scientists' fears about environmental approval for the Gunns pulp mill are growing, along with concerns about the Tasmanian Government's strengthening links with the forest industry. A statement signed by 128 scientists demands a new assessment of the $1.7 billion mill, which they say poses a high risk to the environment. Federal Government Chief Scientist Jim Peacock took evidence yesterday from project critics ahead of his report to federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, which could be completed within a week. Concerns focus on the impact on Bass Strait of 64,000 tonnes of effluent being dumped each day. Oceanographer Stuart Godfrey and two other scientists told Dr Peacock's committee that toxic effluent would wash ashore. Dr Godfrey also signed the statement, which said Gunns and the Tasmanian Government had failed to properly assess the impact of the pulp mill's effluent on the marine environment and the Tamar estuary. Among the 128 signatories are scientists across a range of disciplines, including Dr Keith Sainsbury, who in 2004 won the Japan Prize, the world's highest honour for ecology and sustainability research. A specialist on Tamar fish, Francisco Neira, said: " Impacts of the pulp mill's requirement for 4½ million tonnes of wood per annum have not been assessed. Resultant impacts on biodiversity and water are therefore unknown. " The call to Mr Turnbull for a new assessment has been made despite approval of the project by the Tasmanian Parliament last month, when it accepted Premier Paul Lennon's advice that the mill was environmentally safe. Mr Turnbull is expected to make a decision by October 11. Gunns claims the appeal by the scientists is little more than another delaying tactic. " Are they seeking additional research grants? " it said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Premier yesterday announced that the state's new top public servant would be a former chief of Forestry Tasmania, Evan Rolley. Greens leader Bob Brown said: " This is a … pro-pulp mill appointment. " http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/128-scientists-voice-mill-fears/2007/09/1\ 7/118988143512 2.html 35) A large contingent representing the timber industry assembled outside the All Seasons Resort in Bendigo to voice their disgust at the Victorian Environment Assessment Council's proposed draft. The draft proposal paper contains recommendations for public land use in a 1600-kilometre corridor of land along the Murray River in northern Victoria. Its recommendations would see national parks increase by about 100,000 hectares, while the river red gum forests would be reduced from 106,910ha to 12,205ha. Domestic stock grazing, camping, timber harvesting, firewood collections, camp fires will be banned or regulated if the proposed Gunbower, Barmah and other national park proposals get the go-ahead. The proposed draft shows towns such as Cohuna, Koondrook, Nathalia and Picola face job losses and potential population losses. Timber Communities Australia secretary Faye Ashwin said the plan appalled the timber industry. The people's sense of self and community are being damaged, we don't believe this is fair and it's not just. " Picola resident and sawmiller Kevin Swan said he and his wife discussed leaving the town. " It would mean I would no longer have access to the resources (from Barmah State Forest) that I use to conduct my business. " National conservation groups want the entire Gunbower State Forest made a national park to help protect threatened species. http://bendigo.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news & subclass=general & story_id=\ 1057150 & categor y=general World-wide: 36) Indiana University political scientist Elinor Ostrom noted many modern conservation strategies have ended in stark failures, including the catastrophic loss of Guatemalan forests and the economy-crippling Klamath River salmon kill in 2006. She argued many basic strategies are applied too generally as an inflexible, regulatory " blueprint " that foolishly ignores local customs, economics and politics. " We now ridicule the doctors who long ago used to tell us, 'Take two aspirin and call me in the morning' as a treatment for every single illness, " said Ostrom. " Resource management is just as complex as the human body. It needs to be approached differently in different situations. " What we are learning is that you shouldn't ignore what's going on at the local level, " Ostrom said. " It may even be beneficial to work with local people, including the resource exploiters, to create effective regulation. " Ostrom proposed a flexible framework for determining what factors will influence resource management, whatever the resource. She detailed her views in a special online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science & article=UPI-1-20070918-15\ 371900-bc-us-co nservation.xml 37) The Hero At The Portals of Initiation: The center does not hold.. Oil and the resources of the earth such as soil and forests are exhausting as the mass swells. Can the hero make it through the disintegration? Can small land based, self-sufficient communities make it through, some of them? Can they carry the universal value of life through with their culture? Can they create a culture that will spread in the future that focuses on the highest development of each human as a person rather than the highest rung up the ladder of empire? This is what is being asked of the hero for initiation into human species maturity - nothing less than courage, the adherence to the culture of life over long periods of time and transformation: The total drylands of the planet are 7.9 billion acres of which 61% are desertified, that is, driven by human abuse toward uselessness. Globally, 23% of all arable crop lands have been lost since 1945 through human use and experts say that all arable land on the planet will be ruined in 200 years. It is estimated that prior to the human culture that we term civilization, one third of the planet was covered with closed canopy forest. Now forests cover 10% of the earth. Coral reefs and mangrove swamps which are considered the " incubators " of sea life are dwindling precipitously. Soil is the basis of the planetary terrestrial life. In the best of circumstances such as old growth forests and prairies, soil builds at the rate of one inch each three hundred to a thousand years. It is being exhausted and is eroding away. The way that the industrial system has continued to increase the food supply is by trading off soil fertility for fossil fuel energy through artificial fertilizers. We do not need to continue filling in the details. Our intellect can draw the conclusion for us. An exponentially exploding world population with increasing material consumption, based on dwindling resources and a dying planet, won't work! http://www.Rainbowbody.net/Finalempire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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