my sources
http://www.epaw.co.uk/carbon/deforestati...
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
LUST FOR $$$
IGNORANCE
EGOCENTRICITY
THE SAD BELIEF THAT HUMANS ARE THE MOST ADVANCED BEINGS IN THE UNIVERSE AND THAT WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO EXACTLY AS WE PLEASE WITH NO THOUGHT OF ANY CONSEQUENCE TO OUR OTHER PLANT/ANIMAL LIFE WITH WHICH WE CO-EXIST. MAN IS THE MOST DANGEROUS , IGNORANT IDIOT ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH...
I think all of them are right.
As a scientist, I%26#039;ve seen firsthand some of the clearcutting going on in the Amazon basin. I%26#039;ve also seen successful and sustainable logging up in Maine. Logging isn%26#039;t about %26#039;huge companies%26#039; so much as it is about thousands of small companies here in the west, and a half-dozen big ones that handle the planning and marketing.
Things are changing. in ecology, nothing is stable, even old-growth forest, which in itself is ecologically destined to be cleared through forest fires. Old-growth forest is loaded with dead material, and fire cleans and clears the land. This is the end and beginning of the ecological cycle for forests.
So why let it go to waste? We are rapidly coming to a point in the west where the perceived value of large tracts of virgin forest outweighs the value of the timber produced. At this point, the old-growth forest will be preserved. Be patient- we%26#039;re getting to that point, here in the US. In Europe, it%26#039;s mostly too late. Lots of fields over there.
Elsewhere it%26#039;s another story. Everyone%26#039;s concerned about deforestation in the tropics. The Amazon basin is a good example. Now, as it happens, I%26#039;ve traveled around Amazonas state in Brazil. It%26#039;s incredibly poor. The people there largely view the forest as a resource to be used to bring them into a better economic situation. Who are we, who are busy exploiting our own forests, to tell these people not to do what they want with theirs? It may be big, corrupt companies at the helm, but they%26#039;ve still got workers who are just trying to feed their families. People aren%26#039;t going to listen to hypocracy. They%26#039;ll listen to money, however, and this is a problem- the state-controlled logging companies in Brazil are trying to be guided by smart growth of the industry, but illegal logging is an issue- especially since the exotic hardwoods illegally cut in the tropics always end up in the US and Europe, where the noisiest finger-pointers quickly scoop up the wood for their home projects. Tough subject.
