Guest guest Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Today for you 33 new articles about earth's trees! (327th edition) Subscribe / send blank email to: earthtreenews- Weblog: http://olyecology.livejournal.com --UK: 1) " Save a whole acre in perpetuity " for £50, 2) Restoring Border Mires 12,000 acre forest, 3) The county's greatest tree, 4) Save woodland at Old Pool Bank, 5) Oaks in Grove Copse saved, 6) Deforestation in Kirkintilloch area, 7) Loss of woodland causes loss in home values, 8) Newtonwnabbey woodland is now a nature preserve, --EU: 9) Biofools continued --Germany: 10) Waldkindergärten, or " forest kindergartens, " --Sweden: 11) 8,000 year old spruce grove discovered --Estonia: 12) Debate on the future of Estonia's state forest --Ukraine: 13) Suspension of parceling of forest resources --Romania: 14) 850,000 hectares destroyed or partly destroyed since 1990 --Czechoslovakia: 15) Valuable parts of the Sumava National Park --Russia: 16) Unified information system in operation by 2011, 17) Illegal logging in Zabaikalsky Krai, --Eritrea: 18) 4 miles of Mangrove replanted --Malawi: 19) Tobacco and deforestation --Congo: 20) 500 villagers given 4 weeks to define land use needs via GPS units --Ecuador: 21) Chevron discredits Goldman prize plaintiffs who won in court --Brazil: 22) Criminalization of farming communities --Mexico: 23) Forest defenders of Oaxaca --Honduras: 24) New Forest Law signed --Madagascar: 25) Preventing destruction blueprint of scientific triumph --India: 26) Forest defender named Ramaa, 27) Fragmentation of biosphere reserves, --Burma: 28) Vanishing Teak forests --Indonesia: 29) Three high-ranking police officers declared timber theft suspects, 30) Countries offer Rp10 billion worth of a grants for forest protection in Bengkulu, --Australia: 31) Wind farm threatens ancient trees --World-wide: 32) 100,000,000 rolls of toilet paper a day, 33) Deforestation -- the gateway to HELL, UK: 1) British naturalist Sir David Attenborough is a patron of the World Land Trust, which is currently offering to " save a whole acre in perpetuity " , for just £50 (Dh363). However, critics say that there can be no ultimate guarantee of the future of any piece of land. Wealthy UK financier, Johan Eliasch, who advises UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on deforestation and green energy, provoked the ire of the Brazilian Government with his purchase, in 2006, of 400,000 acres of Amazon rainforest. " The Amazon is not for sale, " said the Brazilian President, Lula da Silva. Eliasch then joined forces with British MP Frank Field, and launched a grand tree-buying plan called Cool Earth late last year. Cool Earth stresses that it " leases " rather than buys land, to keep it safe from eager logging companies. Its website explains that saving one acre of endangered rainforest keeps 260 tonnes of carbon safely " locked up " within the forest itself, unable to escape and pollute the atmosphere. Whoever owns the land or the trees, this method of " capturing " or " locking " carbon into forests is not going to have the knock-on effect of saving the planet. Cool Earth does not claim explicitly to be in the offsetting game, but the carbon that it claims can be " locked up " in one acre of forest would offset 30 round-trips to Rio de Janeiro, say. http://www.business24-7.ae/cs/article_show_mainh1_story.aspx?HeadlineID=5482 2) An age-old landscape in Spadeadam Forest, Cumbria, is being returned to its ancient character as work begins to restore more of the Border Mires. The 12,000 acre forest, which is mostly managed by the Forestry Commission, is a key haven for woodland wildlife, but also contains some of the rarest plants in England in its many peat bogs. Royal Air Force Spadeadam, the only Electronic Warfare Tactics Facility in the UK, covers 9600 acres, or eighty per cent of this area. Now more than 145,000 trees are being felled over 200 acres of mainly wet terrain to revitalise these bogs, which formed after the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago. RAF Spadeadam is a key partner in bog restoration efforts and low-level bombing exercises have been suspended to allow timber to be harvested. Spadeadam was planted by the Forestry Commission in the 20th century to shore up the nation's depleted timber reserves after two world wars. The trees are a valuable and sustainable resource, but some of the boggiest areas were also planted, which are vital habitats for rare plants, birds and spectacular insects. Now conservation is top of the agenda for these precious ancient mires. The work will mean a boost for vegetation like bog asphodel, sphagnum mosses, sundews and many insects. But it could also help one of England's rarest trees in its fight for survival. The bonsai-like dwarf birch is usually found in much colder climates, but it clings onto existence at Spadeadam. Tom Dearnley, Ecologist with the Forestry Commission, said: " The work is an important milestone in a long-term project to restore this amazing habitat. The Border Mires are not only one of the UK's most important wetland habitats, but they are of global significance. The work will enable bog plants to keep their roots in the water and allow the surrounding forest to continue growing on more solid ground. " http://www.forestry.gov.uk/newsrele.nsf/AllByUNID/D38C6317C8FBB3DE8025741A004119\ CC 3) A South Derbyshire park is home to the county's greatest tree, according to a survey conducted by wildlife enthusiasts. A veteran oak known as the Old Man of Calke, at Calke Park, was found to have the largest girth of more than 4,000 veteran trees surveyed in the study, organised by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. Experts say the gnarled old oak first took root more than 1,000 years ago, since when it has stood firm through the Norman Conquest, Henry VIII's dissolution of the monastries, the Industrial Revolution and two world wars. The tree, which has a circumference of 10.01m, also pre-dates the founding of Calke Abbey, the grounds of which it now inhabits. The park is also the home of Derbyshire's second greatest tree, another oak measuring a mere 9.41m around its midriff. The two-year Great Trees of Derbyshire project was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Derby City Council's WildDerby project and the Woodland Trust. The two-year study saw a host of volunteers exercising their arboreal passion by roaming the countryside of Derbyshire armed with tape measures, and reporting possible veteran trees back to the organisers. A veteran oak tree is classed as one with a circumference of more than 3m when measured at 1.5m above the ground, with the criteria varying for other species of tree. Project officer Ruth Long, said: " The energy and enthusiasm we've been met with throughout the project has been fantastic and almost certainly led to this excellent achievement. " We would like to thank everyone who has been a part of the project and made it such a success. " Finally, I'm just going to say that last year as soon as they obtained the permits, the assembly for our registration was never mentioned again. There is a ruling but no one is signing it because it is not in their interest. It is more on their interest to devastate the forest. Thank you to all of you. " http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=306680 4) A row over cutting down trees has erupted at an ancient piece of woodland at Old Pool Bank. The lion's share of the 4.27 acre wild wood off Cabin Road is common land, owned by the Parish Council, and is frequently walked by residents. But a small portion is privately owned, and concerns were raised when trees suddenly started to be cleared from this area last November. Alarmed residents from Cabin Road and Groves Terrace, along with the parish council, asked for a Tree Preservation Order to be made to stop any further felling - a request granted after Leeds City Council (LCC) officers visited the site on November 16. That order is now being contested, by Jonathan Priestley of Addingham, who owns part of the private land. And in his letter of objection Mr Priestley claims the wood is not being properly managed - to the extent it is endangering public safety. He said: " It is worth noting that as one enters Cabin Road from the main Leeds/Otley Road the embankment immediately on the right is suffering from subsidence. " The extent of the subsidence is so material that the root systems of a number of significant trees are now fully exposed. " I believe they constitute a serious danger to public safety on Cabin Road and to some of the domestic buildings on the opposite side of Cabin Road. " The amenity provided by this area of common land is not being managed in the interests of local residents. " He goes on to claim that since the common land is " very extensive " a TPO affecting the private portion would be " excessive " . And Mr Priestley questions the value of the trees involved - which include an ash, a pine, several young birch trees and some leylandii - claiming several had been planted by adjoining properties. http://www.wharfedaleobserver.co.uk/news/newsroundup/display.var.2186019.0.pool_\ residents_stump ed_by_tree_felling.php 5) Mighty oaks have been spared the future axe after a government planning inspector dismissed an appeal to build a bungalow bordering the jealously-guarded Grove Copse in Christchurch. While the inspector who visited the River Way site last month accepted the building would not harm the woodland, he warned the trees could be at risk of lopping or chopping by future occupiers of the property. He said: " The trees would rise well above the proposed dwelling and, in my opinion, it is likely that this would cause inconvenience or fear of danger to future occupiers. The decision has been welcomed by the Friends of Grove Copse, which successfully lobbied councillors last summer to overturn their officers' advice and refuse the backland bungalow bid which had drawn more than 80 objections. " It's great news. It is really nice that these mature oaks are going to be preserved, " said Friends spokesperson Bridget Allen. As well as concern for the safety of trees, said to be 200 years old, objections included the loss of privacy, increased flood risk, access, and parking issues and the outline application was unanimously refused by councillors. http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/display.var.2187556.0.copse_trees_are_spared_ax\ e_after_plans_ rejected.php 6) Growing concern this week over the number of trees that have been chopped down to make way for new developments in the Kirkintilloch area. A number of major construction projects are presently underway - but the price to pay for progress has been the decimation of vast chunks of local woodland. Kirkintilloch link road and the new Kirkintilloch health centre are two of the projects that are causing concern. But the worst news for outdoor enthusiasts has been the 900 houses set to be built on the site of the former Woodilee Hospital. Planning permission has been granted for a consortium of four home builders - Persimmon, Miller, Redrow and Cala - to start building the houses later this year. In recent weeks people living nearby have been shocked by the felling of hundreds of trees. Kirkintilloch man James Reid regularly walks his dog in the area. He said: " I understand they need to clear much of the area, but there are lots of old trees that they don't seem to need to cut down, but have felled anyway. " Gary Wilson, who used to live next to Woodilee in Fauldhead, said: " Some of these trees were 60 or 70 years old. " Developers say that they are removing trees now to make way for an improved roads system. Andy Yule, project director for the Woodilee site, said: " We've been cutting down trees because the bird breeding season lasts from April until August and the planning consortium has told us we are not allowed to cut them down during this time. http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/Kirkintilloch-residents-raise-concern\ s-over.3970730.j p 7) A homeowner claims a council's failure to protect a swathe of ancient woodland from being cut down has lopped £30,000 off the value of his home. Reg Rose has been awarded £750 compensation but says the cash is nothing compared with the loss of the hundreds of square feet of trees. Fareham Borough council has been criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman for failing to enforce tree preservation orders which should have protected the woodland near Titchfield Park Road, Titchfield, from being felled by the landowner. Mr Rose, 59, said: 'I had my house valued before this happened, and then afterwards. The value has been confirmed as having dropped by £30,000. 'I guess it may have a lot to do with the loss of privacy and the lack of a barrier between my home and the A27. 'The trees were chopped down over a matter of days and Fareham Borough Council did nothing to stop it. It used to be full of wildlife and birds, but that's all disappeared now.' The Ombudsman's report said the council failed to keep a tree preservation order up to date. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/Home-value-lopped-after-trees.3959912.jp 8) A Newtonwnabbey woodland has been declared a Local Nature Reserve in recognition of its importance for wildlife and people. Monkstown Wood, a green oasis in a densely-populated urban area, is under the care of the Woodland Trust. The wood contains a mix of habitats, including grassland, mature woodland and recently planted woodland, and is blessed with its own adjacent, meandering rivers. All, including the river habitats, are home to a wonderful variety of wildlife - from dragonflies and damselflies, to bluebells, bats and buzzards. Local Nature Reserves are designated by local authorities in conjunction with Environment and Heritage Service and the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside (CNCC). They are so declared to protect sites of local importance for nature conservation, education and amenity. Newtownabbey Borough Council is delighted that Monkstown Wood can be protected for future generations and will be managed for wildlife and people. This is the second Local Nature Reserve to be designated in the Newtownabbey area. Carnmoney Hill, also under the care of the Woodland Trust, was the first Local Nature Reserve to be designated by Newtownabbey Borough Council in 2006. http://www.newtownabbeytoday.co.uk/news/MONKSTOWN-WOOD-EARNS-39NATURE-RESERVE39.\ 3964919.jp EU: 9) " There are indications that in certain regions the increased use of wood for energy has already shifted management towards intensification of production, which may negatively impact biodiversity, " says a background paper prepared by the Slovenian EU Presidency for the 11-14 April informal Council meeting. The Commission is proposing a 10% increase in biofuels over the next 12 years as part of efforts to achieve a 20% share of renewable energy use by 2020. But there are growing concerns about the biodiversity and climate change impacts of more biofuels cultivation, both within the EU and in developing countries like Brazil and Indonesia, where the cultivation of biomass for biofuels production has boomed. In the EU, the targets are " likely to create a greater market for forest biomass to meet increased demand for feedstock. The rate of utilisation of forests is therefore likely to rise, " says the background paper. The Slovenian Presidency argues that " bioenergy " can only be considered sustainable if it creates " no additional pressures on forest biodiversity, soil, water and other forest resources, including the greenhouse-gas sink potential of forests " . http://www.euractiv.com/en/environment/ministers-discuss-role-forests-energy-scr\ amble/article-17 1565 Germany: 10) IDSTEIN -- Each weekday, come rain or shine, a group of children, ages 3 to 6, walk into a forest outside Frankfurt to sing songs, build fires and roll in the mud. To relax, they kick back in a giant " sofa " made of tree stumps and twigs. The birthplace of kindergarten is returning to its roots. While schools and parents elsewhere push young children to read, write and surf the Internet earlier in order to prepare for an increasingly cutthroat global economy, some little Germans are taking a less traveled path -- deep into the woods. Germany has about 700 Waldkindergärten, or " forest kindergartens, " in which children spend their days outdoors year-round. Blackboards surrender to the Black Forest. Erasers give way to pine cones. Hall passes aren't required, but bug repellent is a good idea. Trees are a temptation -- and sometimes worse. Recently, " I had to rescue a girl " who had climbed too high, says Margit Kluge, a teacher at Idstein's forest kindergarten. Last year, a big tree " fell right before our noses. " The schools are a throwback to Friedrich Fröbel, the German educator who opened the world's first kindergarten, or " children's garden, " more than 150 years ago. Mr. Fröbel counseled that young children should play in nature, cordoned off from too many numbers and letters. They are also a modern-day snapshot of environmentally conscious and consumption-wary Germany, where the Green Party polls more than 10% and stores are closed on Sundays. Only a fraction of German children attend Waldkindergärten, but their numbers have been rising since local parent groups began setting up these programs in the mid-1990s, following the lead of a Danish community. Similar schools exist in smaller numbers in Scandinavia, Switzerland and Austria. The concept is sparking interest far afield -- even in the U.S., whose first Waldkindergarten opened in Portland, Ore., last fall. " The computer arrives early enough, " adds Norbert Huppertz, a specialist in child development at the Freiburg University of Education and a Waldkindergärten booster in Germany. Academic studies of such schools are in their infancy. Some European researchers believe Waldkindergärten kids exercise their imaginations more than their brick-and-mortar peers do and are better at concentrating and communicating. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120813155330311577.html Sweden: 11) The hardy Norway spruces were found perched high on a mountain side where they have remained safe from recent dangers such as logging, but exposed to the harsh weather conditions of the mountain range that separates Norway and Sweden. Carbon dating of the trees carried out at a laboratory in Miami, Florida, showed the oldest of them first set root about 8,000 years ago, making it the world's oldest known living tree, Umea University Professor Leif Kullman said. California's " Methuselah " tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine, is often cited as the world's oldest living tree with a recorded age of between 4,500 and 5,000 years. Two other spruces, also found in the course of climate change studies in the Swedish county of Dalarna, were shown to be 4,800 and 5,500 years old. " These were the first woods that grew after the Ice Age, " said Lars Hedlund, responsible for environmental surveys in the county of Dalarna and collaborator in climate studies there. " That means that when you speak of climate change today, you can in these (trees) see pretty much every single climate change that has occurred. " Although a single tree trunk can become at most about 600 years old, the spruces had survived by pushing out another trunk as soon as the old one died, Professor Kullman said. Rising temperatures in the area in recent years had allowed the spruces to grow rapidly, making them easier to find in the rugged terrain, he added. " For quite some time they have endured as bushes maybe 1/2 meter tall, " he said. " But over the past few decades we have seen a much warmer climate, which has meant that they have popped up like mushrooms in the soil. " http://news./s/nm/20080411/sc_nm/sweden_tree_dc Estonia: 12) TALLINN- Today the People's Union policy council group challenged the parliament to initiate a debate on the future of Estonia's state forest as a matter of national importance and also began a campaign of collecting signatures to protect state forests. The head of the parliamentary faction of the opposition party, Karel Ruutli, said " Our view is that the future of state forest as our common property needs a comprehensive discussion and the unity of the whole society taking into consideration the social, economic, regional and cultural aspects, " Ruutli said. For Ruutli, wiping out forest management districts is not the only way to cut costs. " Costs must not be saved at the expense of the people who work in forests, but the number of people working in the head office and the regions should be reduced, " he said. " The same conclusion has been reached by recognized forestry specialists who regard both the RMK reform and the amending of the forest law as irresponsible, " he added. The opposition party finds that the planned new forest law endangers the existence of state forest and the forest development plan as a national agreement. The People's Union points out that RMK has started eliminating forest management districts on a large scale. Out of the existing 63 districts only 17 are to be preserved, and out of 550 well-educated forestry specialists only 250 would keep their jobs. The People's Union went on to state: " Reportedly the plan is to separate the growing, the management and the sale of forest. But this will destroy the continuity of state forest management and eliminate the good master, and may lead to predatory cutting. Fifty viable forest villages across Estonia will be doomed to extinction, " . http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/20228/ Ukraine: 13) Ministers of Ukraine approved an Order on suspension of parceling of forest resources of Ukraine for private property, according to the government's press-service, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko disclosed at a press conference that this Government's decision had been unanimously made. According to her, it will be in force till legislative regulation of prolongation procedures for lands of the forest resources. " We have cleared up that before the democratic Government's coming wide-ranging plunder of forests of Ukraine took place, " the Prime Minister noted. According to Yulia Tymoshenko, tens of thousands hectares of lands have been corruptly parceled for private property and now deforestation of these areas is underway. Besides, as the Prime Minister says, by the Government Order relative ministries and departments are commissioned to analyze the situation with illegal parceling of lands of forest resources and abolish such decisions. http://finchannel.com/index.php?option=com_content & task=view & id=10334 & Itemid=56 Romania: 14) 350.000 hectares of forest have been destroyed and 500.000 more have been partly destroyed since 1990 up to the present. These figures are only estimates, as certain data lack, since for the past eighteen years, no more inventories have been taken to establish exactly how much forestland we still have and which areas have seen the most felling operations. The project allows for grazing in forest areas, as well as the easy removal of lands from the forest area Unionists will initiate up protests for a stricter Code The draft law of the new Forestry Code, as it has come out of the Senate, leaves open doors to forest destruction, instead of protection. This is the conclusion of the representatives of the Romanian Federation for Forest Protection (FAP). Their arguments are the following: first of all, the project is permissive in regards to any removal of land out of the forest area. Thus, lands of up to 1 hectare may be taken out of forested areas very easily, with only a few approvals by the Forestry Inspectorates. Marian Stoicescu, the Head of the Federation, says that this procedure may elicit new abusive situations, the risk being that the country's current forested land may drop even further. Secondly, the project does not establish that all forests, regardless of the ownership and size, must be managed by a forestry district/ " ring " . This cannot help poor natural persons who own forests to keep their forests, say the Federation representatives. In their opinion, " the forestry rings managed, between the two World Wars - and with very good results - the forests owned by small owners and even the dispersed forests of the state, saving them from destruction " . Thirdly, the new Code may allow for the grazing in forests, whether they are production or protected sites, leading to sapling destruction. It looks like Romania is the only country in the EU allowing this. FAP requests the modification of the Forestry Code draft before it will be debated in the Chamber of Deputies. " To ensure the continuity of forests, we will support the mandatory management of all forests, regardless of owner, through forestry rings. To save small-sized forests and those belonging to natural persons and legal entities, we request the establishment of forestry rings " , Marian Stoicescu added. The forestry unionists have already established a schedule of protests – as on February 4 they will picket the headquarters of the Parliament, with an envisaged subsequent complaint to the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Parliament, regarding the form of the Forestry Code draft. http://www.kms.ee/index.php?The_Romanian_Federation_for_the_Protection_of_Forest\ s_Warns & page=12 & article_id=18529948 & action=article Czechoslovakia: 15) Vimperk, South Bohemia, - Czech Environment Minister Martin Bursik (Greens) signed on Monday the decision that the most valuable parts of the Sumava National Park must develop without human interference, including logging in windstorm-hit forests, the ministry told CTK Tuesday. He thereby confirmed the original verdict from last March and rejected a remonstrance filed by 15 Sumava municipalities against the ministry's stance on the removal of the consequences of Kyrill windstorm that hit Sumava forests last year. The Sumava National Park, situated in south and west Bohemia along the German and Austrian border and covering 69,000 hectares, is the largest national park in the Czech Republic. One year ago, Sumava municipalities officially protested against the ministry's decision to extend Sumava's " first zones, " where people's intervention is prohibited. The National Park Administration, with the ministry's consent, left some 140,000 cubic metres of tree untouched in the most protected zones of the park. The ministry argued that the localities would suffer immense damage by logging. As the ministry did not make a decision by the beginning of this week, 15 Sumava municipalities sued Bursik for inactivity that, they say, prevents them from their legal duty to look after the municipal forests. The municipalities expressed fears that bark-beetles might hatch in the fallen trees, multiply and spread across the forests. " We keep the forests in the most valuable parts of Sumava untouched exactly because it is a national park and not a timber forest, " Bursik said, defending the ministry's original decision. He added Kyrill proved that the previous interference in the forest natural development was harmful. http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/311/czech_national_news/21097/ Russia: 16) By 2011 there will be a unified information system in operation in Russia for controlling timber circulation that may help the government combat illegal logging, according to a report in " Russian Forestry Review " magazine. The new system was announced by Valery Roshchupkin, head of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resource's Federal Agency for Forestry, or Rosleskhoz, at a meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission on Prevention of Illegal Timber Circulation. The system is intended to facilitate reduction in illegal logging in the country. The unified information system will track the transfer of timber from the moment it is harvested to its processing and transfer to export. The second program developed by the commission is the introduction of compulsory accounting of timber at entry and exit of wood processing plants. Semyon Levi, deputy head of the Ministry of Natural Resources, said 10 percent of all timber harvested in Russia is illegal. In total, 180 million cubic meters of lumber is felled in Russia each year. Forests cover about 45 percent of the land area of Russia, and the most recent Rosleskhoz report, issued March 12, shows 82 billion cubic meters of " growing stock. " Allowable annual forest cuts equal 635 million cubic meters, the report shows. The report, issued by Roshchupkin, indicates that the country has put in place a " new national forest policy, the liberalization of access to forest resources, the guarantees of federal and regional governments towards implementation of investment projects and preferential packages for businesses, and a tough customs policy. " With these factors in place, the report concludes that " Russia has established proper conditions for forest resources development, implementation of priority projects and attraction of investments towards wood-processing industry modernization. " There are pure criminal activities such as logging without official permission, timber theft, falsification of documents, financial crimes, use of violence against local peoples, law violations by authorities, and corruption. Then there is illegal activity in forests by poor people seeking to satisfy their basic needs for food and fuel. They will engage in forest encroachment and forest land conversion for agriculture usage, and poach trees. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-10-02.asp 17) The Zabaikalsky Krai, a region in Eastern Siberia between Lake Baikal and the Russian Far East, is one of the worst affected areas. According to the Federal Agency for Forestry, illegal logging here accounts for more than two million cubic metres a year. The agency warned the region could be stripped of wood reserves in five years if nothing is done to stop the criminal trade. Last May, Yuri Trutnev, the Russian Minister for Natural Resources, paid a surprise visit and said he was shocked by what he found. He complained that " entire bandit villages " were cutting down trees, loading them on railway sidings and sending them to China. Vladimir Putin recently described the export of unprocessed timber as " comparable with embezzlement " . " Our neighbours continue to make billions of dollars on Russian timber, but we are doing very little to create conditions for wood processing here at home, " Putin said. A decade ago, Manzhouli was a dusty border town in a corner of Inner Mongolia in North East China. Now it is a gleaming metropolis built on the wealth of timber from the Siberian forests. I understood the Russian president's resentment. Standing in a vast lumber yard surrounded by piles and piles of wood, I saw a forest of cranes and, beyond them, a cluster of brightly-coloured skyscrapers. This surreal city plays host to a stream of Russian tourists who travel for days to buy clothes, cameras and DVDs in glitzy shopping malls. Guang Delin, the boss of just one of the 70 timber businesses in Manzhouli, took us to lunch at an extraordinary restaurant. As I watched waitresses carrying plates of steaming noodles past tinkling fountains, I thought about a woman I met on the other side of the border in Russia. Natasha lives in one of the so called " bandit villages " in Zabaikalsky Krai, seven hours drive on bad roads from the regional capital Chita. Her house has no running water - she has to fetch it by bucket from a nearby well. " I'm a single mother with three children and one is an invalid, " she told me. Her neighbour, an elderly man in a fur hat, agreed. " Most people have to work as black market loggers just to survive, to buy bread and feed their families. " We used to have so much forest round here, " he added, throwing his arms wide open. " But now look - there's almost none left and they only leave the small, skinny trees - the ones we call toothpicks. " The police have just established a new forestry division to conduct spot checks. But many points in the new Russian Forest Code contradict each other. The lack of clarity leaves room for unlicensed logging on a large scale, with poachers avoiding taxes and pocketing huge sums of money. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/7338623.stm Eritrea: 18) Kneeling by the sparkling waters of the Red Sea, Ahmed Shengabay presses sand carefully over a mangrove seed. " When this grows, it will provide protection for fish and food for my goats, " Ahmed said smiling, waving at a long and thick line of tall trees already reaching high into the sky. " We've planted all this already, " the fisherman cum farmer added proudly, the mangroves lining the shore beside his small desert village of Hirgigo. " The little fish like the mangroves, the big fish like the little fish -- and we like the big fish. " The seed-planting is part of a remarkable yet low-tech pilot project, designed as a model to improve the lives of desert coastal communities by using the salt-water trees to increase fish numbers, provide feed to raise livestock - and combat desertification. Like many of the small villages scattered along Eritrea's Red Sea coast, Hirgigo is a harsh place to live. The region is reputedly one of the hottest inhabited places on earth, with temperatures soaring well above 40 C (104 F) for much of the year, combined with an average annual rainfall of less than two centimetres (an inch). The sun beats down hard on a dusty plain dotted with palm trees, squeezed between barren mountains and the sea. " It's a tough land, " said Simon Tecleab, a marine scientist who has been working on the project for the past ten years. " Before, after the rains stopped, the villagers would have to go far to find food for their animals or they would just starve, " he added. Much of the original mangrove forest was destroyed by overgrazing by camels or cutting for firewood or the building of homes and boats. But today, along the shore, mangrove trees stretch in a tall green band along some seven kilometres (four miles) of coast and over 100 metres (330 feet) thick, a budding ecosystem acting as nursery grounds for fish, crabs and oysters. The mangroves -- now protected by fences from hungry livestock -- have therefore become crucial to the villagers. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Mangrove_project_creates_fish_fire_and_hope_in\ _Eritrean_dese rt_999.html Malawi: 19) Today tobacco is the biggest forex earner in the country bringing in 60 percent of the country's export revenue and it is the largest employer in rural areas with 70 percent of the workforce in the industry. However the boom in the tobacco industry has brought with it its own negative consequences, especially in matters to do with the environment. According to Nico Nijenhuis, a research student from the University of Twente in The Netherlands, and currently on an internship with GTZ/ProBEC, Malawi has an estimated 10,000 smallholder tobacco growers, 65 percent of whom use wood to cure tobacco. Nijenhuis says it takes a single small holder farmer 13.5kilogrammes of wood to cure a single kg of tobacco. According to German Scholar, Helmut Geist who conducted a Global Assessment of Reforestation Related to Tobacco Farming in 1999, Malawi clears 55,000 hectares of woodlands annually to cure tobacco. Heist pegged the percentage of tobacco related deforestation in Malawi at 26.1 percent, representing a quarter of all the deforestation that happens in the country. Today some analysts suggest that these figures might have increased significantly as production has switched away from politically unstable (yet fuel-efficient) Zimbabwe to other Southern African countries like Malawi where wood is the only practical fuel for curing flue cured tobacco. http://www.dailytimes.bppmw.com/article.asp?ArticleID=9061 20) This week over five hundred villagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's rainforest will employ GPS technology to map their forests in an effort to preserve their territory from logging companies. This large-scale community initiative is being managed by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), which has trained 66 'Master Mappers' to aid the villagers in mapping their territories using motorbike and canoe. The villages are mapping their full territory in the Congo, but are also employing the GPS to mark significant areas including their villages, sacred places, and fishing and hunting areas. The Congo is the world's second largest rainforest. It has suffered greatly from two civil wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The first lasted from 1996-1997; the second from 1998-2003. The second conflict, sometimes referred to as Africa's World War, holds the dubious distinction of being the deadliest conflict since World War II. During these devastating wars, militias and armies exploited the rainforest and its indigenous peoples with impunity. Since the war's end, the political stabilization of the DRC have meant that its forests are under new pressures, this time by industrial and often international logging companies. " There is a rush for the trees, " according to Rene Ngongo, from the local NGO, Organisation Concertée des Ecologistes et Amis de la Nature (OCEAN), which is working with the RFUK. " What is at stake is enormous. Two-thirds of the people in Congo depend on this forest to provide food, medicines and building materials. It is critical for the survival of the people and animals. " The natives of the forest have largely been left out of forest policy thus far; the hope is that these maps will change that. " It is going to be the first time that anybody in DRC sees on paper that these forest-dependent communities exist, " Cath Long, RFUK Project Director said. " Their maps will be a vital tool for the communities to negotiate with the government. It will allow them to demonstrate that they are there, and that they need to be taken into account when decisions are made about the forest they live in. " The maps are to be completed by May 8th, in time for a meeting where the DRC government will decide how various territories of the forest will be used. http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0414-hance_congo.html Ecuador: 21) The two men, lawyer Pablo Fajardo Mendoza and community organizer Luis Yanza, were among half a dozen grassroots environmentalists from around the world who were feted at the San Francisco Opera House on Monday and awarded $150,000 apiece to continue their work on projects that range from improving sanitation in Mozambique to protecting wetlands in Puerto Rico to shutting down polluters in Russia. " For us personally, the prize is important; it strengthens our will to keep going, " said Yanza after a press conference Monday morning at the Fairmont Hotel. " It's also a political boost for all the people working all across the Amazon to protect the environment. But this year the award to Fajardo and Yanza has triggered a harsh response from Chevron Corp., which is being sued in Ecuadoran court for despoiling the Amazon. The company insists it cleaned up its share of the mess - described by plaintiffs as a fouled area the size of Rhode Island - and says the Goldman Foundation was hoodwinked. " We believe they were misled, " said Chevron spokesman David Samson, who also retained a room at the Fairmont to be available to the press. " We tried to reach out to the Goldman Foundation when we heard they might be in consideration, but we were stiff-armed. No one ever cared to hear our side of the story. " Richard Goldman responded with a statement reiterating his pride in Fajardo and Yanza, whom he described as " two ordinary Ecuadorans addressing a problem that impacts 30,000 of their countrymen: petrochemical waste spoiling hundreds of square miles of Amazon rain forest. Their work is motivated by a single desire: to ensure that their corner of the Amazon - one of the world's most contaminated industrial sites - is cleaned up. " He said the men were chosen through a nomination process that includes research by environmental experts from 50 organizations and five months of fact-checking by foundation staff. The roots of the lawsuit against Chevron - in which Yanza organized thousands of plaintiffs and Fajardo is a lead attorney - date back to 1964, when Texaco began pumping oil in a remote corner of northern Ecuador, in a partnership with Petroecuador, the state oil company. The suit alleges that Texaco, which was bought by Chevron in 2001, dumped 18 billion gallons of crude oil-tainted water in 1,000 unlined toxic waste pits. The company left Ecuador in 1992 and carried out a $40 million cleanup, which the Ecuadoran government approved. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/15/BAVE105B0F.DTL Brazil: 22) Compared with the deep poverty of most of the 25 million people who live in the Amazon region, these farmers are prosperous. " We felt we were building something here and we were lauded for it, " Mr Del Moro remembers. " I had my photo taken with two presidents. They treated us like heroes. " But where deforestation was once encouraged as an act of progress and development – officials looked the other way when environmental laws were flouted – Brazil now talks of sustainable development and enacts ever stricter laws. Suddenly Alta Floresta and places like it are crawling with armed federal police sent to back up agents from Brazil's reformed environmental protection agency, Ibama. Many are outraged at what they see as the criminalisation of their community. " Many mistakes were made and have to be put right. But not by treating us like bandits, " Mr Gamba said. Alta Floresta's farmers say they understand that the situation has changed. Mr Gamba, for example, is experimenting with rice crops as a means of revitalising degraded pasture and says early results suggest that he can double his herd without encroaching farther on the Amazon. What they resent is the rigorous enforcement of regulations once ignored, and the lack of expertise and financial assistance to help them to work within the law. " We feel abandoned here. The Government isn't listening to us, " Maria Izaura, the Mayor of Alta Floresta, said. " The only minister who pays attention is the Environment Minister, and she just sends the police. " http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3732232.ece Mexico: 23) My name is Miguel Cruz Moreno, I am part of the organizing committee of CIPO-RFM What is the name of the mountains near San Isidro? The north range of the state of Oaxaca. It here where San Isidro Aloapam (SIA) is Located. Where is San Isidro in relation to Oaxaca? It is about 3 hours drive north of Oaxaca. It is an indigenous community of Zapatec speaking people. Is the area where we saw the logging/destruction protected? The forest of SIA is a virgin area where you can find two water springs. It is a part of the forest known as 'Agua Palomas' and 'Cerronariz'. These are two virgin areas where many species of animals and plants live. These parts of the forest have been protected by the people of the community of SIA for a long time, dating back to 1910. That is the year that the village was founded. And ever since they have been protecting this part of the forest. But now they are facing a big problem and the excuses given by the loggers of San Miguel Aloapam to come and plunder the forest. There are plundering this forest under the pretension that they are cutting down diseased trees. At the same they are cutting down healthy trees. The pretense is that they are lawfully working the forest. There is no adequate care or protection. This paper company had a contract many years ago for 25 years to exploit part of the Forest surrounding SIA. But in 1982 the company was told it could no longer exploit the forest as the contract had expired after 25 years. This paper company through the government is now implementing a project known in the community as 'Units for the Exploitation of the Forest'. These are companies administered by landlords and PRIistas (local businessmen and paramilitaries loyal to the violent and corrupt PRI party) and they are protected by the Police to carry on exploiting the forest in SIA. What this means is that politicians, landlords and paramilitaries have access to log the forest and directly deliver the wood to the paper companies or to what they call 'transformation spaces'. All the wood obtained from the forest is sent to a 'transformation space' or so they say. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396296.html Honduras: 24) The one-month term allotted for the president to ratify the law came and went without any signs that he intended to fulfill his promise and many began to fear that Zelaya had succumbed to pressures from the logging industry, especially since Zelaya was a leader of the Honduras Loggers Association in the 1980s. The rumors, however, were quelled on Feb. 14 when the president surprisingly announced that he would sign the law, due to come into affect in stages over the next three months. " The fact that it took him so long to sign it shows that the president suffered strong pressure from the [logging] industry. But in the end, though the new law isn't perfect, it does suggest an improvement from the last one, " said leader of environmental group Mopawi, Oswaldo Munguía, who works in the eastern Mosquitia region. Though some environmental groups have celebrated what they consider a triumph of basic goals, other groups have shown skepticism. Several organizations claim that the logging industry's interests in the sector are too strong to allow the new legislation to be put into practice and that ecologist groups don't enjoy the freedom necessary to act without fear of retaliation. Among the law's improvements, environmentalists hope, is the substitution of the previous government agency, Honduran Corporation for Forest Development (COHDEFOR), for the newly created Conservation and Development Institute, which won't have the image of corruption linked to COHDEFOR, considered an extension of the logging industry. According to a 2005 study by British nongovernmental organization Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), bribes paid for illegal exploitation licenses have become the norm in COHDEFOR. The EIA reported that 50 percent of pine trees and up to 80 percent of mahogany trees in the country are felled without valid authorization. This in turn contributed to the fact that Honduras lost 35 percent of its forests between 1990 and 2005, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). http://www.latinamericapress.org/article.asp?lanCode=1 & artCode=5576 Madagascar: 25) A study aimed at preventing the continued destruction of wildlife in Madagascar is being heralded as a scientific triumph that could act as a blueprint to save many other species from mass extinction. Scientists believe they now have a viable road map that could be used anywhere in the world to protect the many thousands of animals and plants living precariously in biodiversity " hotspots " , which are increasingly threatened by human activities. The findings are being seen as vindication for a radical new approach to saving endangered species by treating wildlife as a complex web of interacting animals and plants, rather than the old idea of saving one species at a time. Madagascar was chosen for the experiment because it has one of the richest varieties of wildlife in the world, with a high proportion of endemic species living nowhere else. It has also experienced massive destruction of its forests, with barely 10 per cent of its original habitat surviving. Yet the international team of researchers who carried out the 10-year study found that it was possible to compile a workable conservation plan based on a detailed analysis of the whereabouts and habitats of 2,315 species of ants, butterflies, frogs, geckos, lemurs and plants. They built up a vast library of information on the exact location of thousands of animals and plants across entire regions of Madagascar. They then designed computer software to work out the habitat range of each species and how to devise the optimum way of saving them. It is the first time that scientists have compiled such a detailed database of wildlife from such a broad spectrum of species over such a wide area of land. They believe such data is vital in deciding on priorities that will save the greatest number of animals and plants in the shortest possible timeframe. " Our analysis raises the bar on what's possible in conservation planning, and helps decision-makers determine the most important places to protect, " said Claire Kremen of the University of California Berkeley. " Conservation planning has historically focused on protecting one species, or one group of species, at a time, but in our race to beat species extinction that one-species approach is not going to be quick enough, " said Professor Kremen, a co-leader of the team, whose study is published in the journal Science. " Never before have biologists and policy-makers had the tools that allow analysis of such a broad range of species, at such a fine scale, over such a large geographic area, " she said. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/the-miracle-in-madagascar-ndash-\ a-blueprint-fo r-saving-species-807799.html India: 26) In her village, when young people, who are enchanted by the lifestyle of a city, refuse to join the Forest Protection Committee, it worries people like Ramaa. When another villager wants to cut a tree down for a wooden table or to sell it to get himself something more " attractive " , the fight gets tougher for Ramaa. But she is undeterred and it is because of people like her that many of our villagers still have the will to fight for what is rightly theirs. These are our real heroes! In an age where heroes are rare to come by, I was fortunate to meet Ramaa. She lives in Gundiribari village, in Ranpur block in Nayagarh district of Orissa. Ramaa is a 50-year-old tribal woman. Like everyone else in her village, her life is intricately connected to her surroundings: the soil from where her food grows, which paints her hut, the palm leaves that make her roof and the mats that she dries the grain on, the medicines that heal her family and even the gods that she worships. This is why these forests are so important! I couldn't help think that they were so fortunate when compared to us whose essential goods, like toothpaste, milk, bread, electricity and even water come from so far away, and in the process, we waste so much of the Earth's resources, whereas this community was self sufficient. Forests, that are the basis of survival of so many communities in the country, are in great danger, because of the " needs " of so many like us. And when these very forests of Gundiribari were threatened, Ramaa was the one who brought together all the women in her community to save them. It was a time of crisis, she said. Initially, the men of the village had taken the responsibility of saving the forests, but they ran into trouble with the neighbouring villages because they too wanted to use the forests for themselves. Then the women took over, and thankfully were more successful. The forests of Gundiribari are a target for the timber and other commercially viable produce, most of which are targeted for urban dwellers. The fight to save the forests is unfortunately a struggle between Ramaa's need and our greed. http://www.hindu.com/yw/2008/04/15/stories/2008041550030200.htm 27) The southern state of Tamil Nadu holds two important heritage biospheres, although it is the most urban state in India. The Nilgiris biosphere in western Tamil Nadu, also cradled by the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Kerala, is home to the largest concentration of tigers in one single biosphere in the country, about 366 of the precious 1,400. The very concept of " conserving an entire biosphere " rose in Tamil Nadu, say experts here. In an exhaustive study on the man-wildlife conflict, as part of a book, Chief Conservator of Forests V.N. Singh and senior forest department officer A.K. Srivastava have detailed " of habitat, grazing and forest fires " as some of the reasons for such conflict. While the state's forest department has been pro-active in putting out forest fires, scientists from the Masinigudi station of the Indian Institute of Science have been advocating that small fires in December-March be allowed to burn, letting the forest regenerate. The biggest fires occur in April-May, and these need to be minded more carefully, experts say. " In the last six years, 136 lives were lost due to wildlife attack, mainly elephants " , the study says. There was just one tiger attack death in 2006-2007, it notes. Two deaths occurred due to leopard attacks in 2006-07 and 2007-08, showing increasing pressure on leopard habitats. The man-elephant conflict seems to be reducing, with just 56 elephants dying in 2007 from a high of 81 in 2003. http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/enviornment/urban-tamil-nadu-minds-its-fores\ ts_10037455.html Burma: 28) U Tin Naing in the town of Hsipaw, where he lives, he grows enough food to feed his family and keeps his house in good repair with timber from the abundant teak forests. But this was before the Burmese military government and a race for profits conspired to sell off most of the wood, leaving the land bare and unproductive I live with my family in Hsipaw, home of the heart of the Shan State, the largest in Burma; it borders Thailand, Laos and China. We have an uncomplicated existence: we grow our own food, have sporadic electricity, and our water comes from the river. The river runs by the back of my house. In days gone by it was a source of wealth: the clean water flowed past, supplying the local population, sometimes carrying flecks of gold. Many people would spend their days panning, collecting small particles of gold until enough was gathered to trade for other goods. It was a tough life at times, but we were always sustained by the land. The river has long since given up its mineral wealth, but it's still an important meeting place. Alongside the waters, in a quiet spot behind an ancient bodhi tree, sits an old prayer house. It's made entirely from teak – it's a beautiful structure. Teak is our traditional building material; it's a locally sourced timber, strong and long-lasting. Of all the world's teak, 70% comes from Burma. But today, for the average man wanting to repair his house, teak is surprisingly difficult to find and harder still to afford. Prepared teak lasts for three generations, but in the case of this prayer house that interval has passed; the beams have reached the end of their natural life. You can tell by listening. Teak has a distinctive acoustic nature, but once the life has drained from it the sound becomes flat and dull. Hsipaw, along with areas of Burma like Mawkmai and Namlan, was once known for its teak forests. Sadly this is no longer the case. It takes 100 years for teak to mature into timber, and many of the mature forests are no more. Burma still has teak, but in all but the most inaccessible regions much has been sold. Logging has provided valuable funds for the military forces, serving to support their regime while at the same time exploiting the foundations of the land. There are international embargos against the sale of Burmese teak, but once it crosses the borders it is reclassified as non-Burmese. The sanctions do little, and although smuggling a tree sounds no easy feat, our neighbouring countries do little to enforce the embargos. There are rivers across the border to Thailand and China, and one boat can carry 34 tonnes. http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial & id=556 & catID=4 Indonesia: 29) The National Police on Friday declared three high-ranking police officers suspects for allowing illegal logging to take place in Ketapang, West Kalimantan. " Of 19 West Kalimantan Police officers being questioned, three have already been declared suspects in illegal logging cases, " National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Abu Bakar said. He said the suspects were transferred to Jakarta and had been detained at the National Police Headquarters in South Jakarta since Thursday. The suspects are former Ketapang district police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ahmad Sun'an, former Ketapang criminal unit chief Adj. Comr. Khadafi Marpaung and former Ketapang water police chief First Insp. Agung Lutfi. " The three officers were declared suspects based on testimony from the other 16 officers questioned, which led us to believe they knowingly allowed illegal logging, " Abu said. He said the suspects were charged with violating the forestry law, but he stopped short of accusing them of corruption. " We are not denying that possibility. Please be patient because this case can still develop, " he said. Since March 14, the police have been conducting operations to uncover illegal logging activities in Ketapang. So far, around 12,000 cubic meters of logs with an estimated value of Rp 208 billion (US$22.6 million) have been confiscated, along with 19 boats used in their transportation. According to police reports, the smuggling operations covered some 7,000 hectares of woodland, and the confiscated logs were intended to be transported to Kuching, Malaysia, and later sold in China, Taiwan and Japan. http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20080412.A07 & irec=6 30) Bengkulu - Australia and some other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea planned to provide Rp10 billion worth of a grant to Bengkulu province for the protection and preservation of forests. Head of the Forestry Representative office in Bengkulu Chairul Burhan here on Monday said Rp5 billion of the total amount was to be provided by Australia, while the rest was shared among some Asian countries. " The distribution of the grant will be handled by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), " he said. The channeling of the grant was still being processed and probably be disbursed in 2009. Bengkulu has been appointed as one of the grant recipients, as the province has huge forests, accounting for 46.54 percent of the total of 1.9 million hectares in that region. According to him, the grant will be handed over to the government of Indonesia and will be included in the government`s budget. Therefore it takes the form of a grant, the use of which will be audited by the Supreme Audit Board (BPK). He further explained that the forests in Bengkulu made a great contribution to the supply of carbon for the life of people in the world. Based on the result of the environmental congress on global warming in Bali in November 2007, the carbon produced by the forests reached 500 tons. If terms of value, this will produce Rp40 trillion assuming that one ton of carbon is worth 15 US dollars. The world, he said, had provided a compensation to all forests in Indonesia, but the value was relatively small, namely only Rp1 trillion. " We keep on endevouring to get a compensation for the 920 thousand hectares of forests in Bengkulu, " he said. http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2008/4/15/australia-asian-countries-to-provide-gr\ ant-for-bengku lu-forests/ Australia: 31) A wind farm in South Australia could put a number of ancient trees at risk, a politician in the state has claimed. The Hallet 3 cluster of 32 turbines will be just 20 metres (65 ft) from the 4,000 year old eucalyptus globulus biocostata trees at Mt Bryan, Adelaide, says State Democrat MP Sandra Kanck. As a species, the trees are not threatened, but " as the sole South Australian survivor of the wetter climates of 35-50,000 years ago " should be heritage listed, she says. http://www.energycurrent.com/index.php?id=3 & storyid=9951 World-wide: 32) Everyday 100,000,000 rolls of toilet paper are used worldwide and 6.8 million gallons of water are flushed down the toilet. Our forests are being destroyed at record numbers and our water sources are running dry. The U.S. government predicts that at least 36 states will have water shortages in the next five years. Crazy? Brondell thinks so. With the introduction of the Ecoflow and the Swash Ecoseat, Brondell makes noteworthy conservation in the bathroom easy and cost effective. The Swash Ecoseat is the first of its kind toilet seat with refreshing feminine and posterior washes, simple push button controls, and a slam-free, antimicrobial seat and lid. The Swash Ecoseat replaces your existing toilet seat, fits nearly all residential toilets, and does not require an electrical outlet like other products. Better than dry toilet paper, the Ecoseat's retractable wash wands provide a more comfortable bathroom experience while saving a family of four over one hundred and twenty dollars a year in toilet paper. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/saving-our-water-and-forests-one-toilet-\ at-a-time,348 150.shtml 33) So, I was walking through a parking lot today when I read the following on a bumper sticker: " Deforestation -- the gateway to HELL. " So naturally, I started thinking about deforestation. And I started thinking about biofuels, which have started to contribute heavily to increased deforestation, at least according to the article in TIME. And I started also thinking about an article I read the other day on CNN examining declining Chinook salmon populations in the Sacramento River (the researchers can't figure out why the salmon are dying, which makes the story just that much more disturbing). Which brought me to the end of this particular line of reasoning: " Is this the beginning of the end? " Are we approaching the collapse of civilization due to environmental factors we can no longer control? Is it even possible? I mean, I suppose one day, it will happen, right? Civilization will collapse. One day, we will have burned all the oil, sullied all the water, eaten or simply discarded all the fish, cut down all the trees, and destroyed what natural defenses we have left against cosmic rays and such. After all, these aren't infinite resources we're talking about (well, maybe water...to an extent). Managed poorly, even renewable resources, like fish, can run out, and we humans aren't really known for our ability to show restraint and good judgment in resource management.. Let's put all the hyperbole aside, and think about this. Where are we on this continuum to collapse? Will scientists look back and say: " Yup, 2008 -- the year the salmon died -- that was the year it began? " Or are we further along…perhaps they'll look back and say: " Yup, 1903 -- the birth of the car -- that was the year the end began. " http://www.eponline.com/articles/60807/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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