The Rainforest. Its gotta stop.

[amazondoc]

I don't understand why some folks are saying "don't protect the environment, protect freedom instead!".

Guess what, folks, the two things aren't incompatible. People can be free and ALSO be environmentally aware.

OTOH -- "freedom" should not include the freedom to destroy essential resources. I am not free to burn down my neighbor's house -- so why should I be free to burn down my local forest? We can only have "freedom" within the context of our responsibilities to others -- and those responsibilities include protecting the environment in which others live.

Getting off my soap box now!

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
I agree here. I feel folks concentrate on one or the other...And I'm guilty of this too... but what I think what Mahonri was saying was a more immediate concern.. At least for him

things may be different for these teens by the time they are our age.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Quote:

 

[Prettiest Frog]

Quote:
It's amazing how much less of it exists now than did 20 years ago. Pity, if we'd taken the warning seriously, how many fewer species would be extinct now?

There is acid rain. It's causing problems in areas of the world by degrading buildings.

The Sahara (and other) deserts are expanding, there are more water shortages.


Be grateful that some took the situation seriously, and thus severely lessened the effects so that there is still a rainforest, mad cow disease is controlled, the amount of mercury and lead you are exposed to is much less, and all the rest.


There are reasons to fear. I provided some. If only people had taken the dumping into the ocean more seriously, well, you can see the video and read the article for yourself.


Our freedom is in much less danger than our environment. I exercise my right to free speech in front of the Whitehouse, but I cannot take a deep breath in the area I grew up in without my chest hurting from the pollution.

 

[Prettiest Frog]

A simple truth -

If you walk by discarded trash on your way somewhere and think 'someone should do something' or 'there should be a law', you aren't an environmentalist. An environmentalist clean it up.

 

[amazondoc]

I'm avoiding real work this evening, so I thought I'd offer some fact checks in response to Melody123's post. I hope these help to educate a few folks!

Quote:
"Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth's surface and atmosphere along with a posited commencement of glaciation. This hypothesis never had significant scientific support, but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of press reports that did not accurately reflect the scientific understanding of ice age cycles, and a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s. Mainstream scientific opinion is that the Earth has not durably cooled, but undergone global warming throughout the 20th century.[1]"

from wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling

20 Years ago I was told by my middle school teachers that the rainforest would be entirely gone in 10 years. ( I personally visited it, it's still there.)

The rainforest IS disappearing. In just one country, **10,000 square miles** of rainforest disappeared last year alone.

"The deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon, the largest stretch of forest in the world, has increased by 40% in the past year, according to preliminary figures released yesterday by the Brazilian government. Almost 10,000sq miles (24,000sq km) of virgin forest - an area the size of Albania - were lost, mainly to soya farming and logging."

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/6-27-2003-42249.asp

10 years ago I was told by my High School teachers that the hole in the ozone would make it deadly to step outside in 10 years.

Ozone is a complicated issue. And remember, one reason that ozone holes have NOT killed us -- yet -- is because of international treaties which forced countries to protect the ozone through banning CFCs.

You can learn more about its complexity here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone#Ozone_in_Earth.27s_atmosphere

and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_layer#Ozone_depletion

Not to mention acid rain

Acid rain causes a lot of serious problems. You can learn more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain

alar in the apples

Alar was banned for use on food plants in 1989, precisely because of those health concerns. Alar is a "verified human carcinogen".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daminozide

killer bees

Killer bees kill more people in the US every year than poisonous snakes do, and they out-compete the calmer European bees -- so, although they are not the end of the world, they are also not something to disregard as a joke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee#Impact_on_existing_apiculture

killer ants

The spread of fire ants poses a significant danger to farmers, livestock, pets, and commercial growers. You are lucky if you don't live within range of them. Heck, in Texas alone, fire ants cause more than $140 MILLION in damages every year! More than $5 BILLION is spent nationwide every year for treatment and control.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_imported_fire_ant

killer hurricanes

Researchers still believe that greenhouse effects will increase the occurrence of severe hurricanes in the next century:

http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes

killer earthquakes, killer tornadoes

Dunno much about these. Earthquakes are under the ground, so it seems unlikely that global warming would affect them much.

And both tornado and earthquake numbers from the past are hard to study, since there weren't good ways of detecting or measuring them til relatively recently.

SARS

This is a disease, not an effect of global warming.

Nonetheless it isn't something to dismiss out of hand -- especially since the mortality rate in people over 65 is more than 50%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome

mad cow disease

Another disease, not an effect of global warming. Also not a nice disease, and now heavily controlled internationally. Can cause heavy economic losses. In the UK alone, more than 4 million cattle were slaughtered due to the mad cow outbreak there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy#Effect_on_the_beef_industry

the Bird flu

Another disease, not an effect of global warming. Also not a nice disease, and also resulting in growing government controls and causing heavy economic losses. Costs to the poultry industry are estimated at $10 BILLON dollars, and more than 140 MILLION birds have been killed. Despite these control efforts, avian influenza continues to spread.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXT...004173~piPK:34003707~theSitePK:503048,00.html

H1N1 influenza type A

Another disease, not an effect of global warming. The jury is still out on the impact of H1N1 worldwide.

mercury poisoning

Mercury poisoning is quite nasty -- and "Human-generated sources such as coal plants emit approximately half of atmospheric mercury".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning

the threat of extinction of every animal ever known or unknown

A threat which is all too rapidly becoming a reality. In fact, 50% of all species on earth may disappear in the next 50 years. And it'll be much too late to do anything for those species AFTER they disappear.

Koh LP, Dunn RR, Sodhi NS, Colwell RK, Proctor HC, Smith VS (September 2004). "Species coextinctions and the biodiversity crisis". Science 305 (5690): 1632–4.

global warming, global climate change

Despite a few denials from the fringe, global warming and climate change is a real and serious phenomenon. For a bit more info, look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

the shifting of the poles

Pretty far out, not likely to happen. Taken more seriously by science fiction than by science.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataclysmic_pole_shift_hypothesis#Scientific_research

2012

Cmon, you're not seriously proposing fantasies about the year 2012 as an argument against environmental concerns?

radon in our houses killing us

Radon is often the largest source of human exposure to radiation. And you know what radiation means -- cancer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon​

 

[safarichick101]

Okay. The OP here.


I really don't see why all the national geographic magazines feature the possible identification of another life bearing planet. Trust me, I love astronomy and if I didn't feel like I was born to do this, I would do that just to get up in one of those satelites.. just to see the earth. I just don't see why people keep trying to find a solution to their mistake billions of light years away. As far as we know, there are plan b's but I really have never heard of a Planet B.

I would like to get up and give speeches. I felt when I was younger that ''I'' would fix our problems for good. I still feel that if I don't do it, nobody else will (Sorry to be a brat). Trust me, its the only thing I take initiative for. But I want to have a life. I hope to be an Irish dancing champion as well as continue my art (My talent) and still have enough money to own a farm and raise livestock. I want to make as big of an impact as I can. If the world was filled with people like the half of this thread that say that it won't happen, or I can't see it, therefore it isn't there..... I think the planet would be doomed.

At school we often have days where we where pajamas in order to raise money for a charity (you pay a dollar for every item (hats, crazy hair, pajamas, slippers) or weeks where we just plain donate to a charity and see which class can raise the most money. I think I might ask the principle to have one of those where we donate to WWF (world wildlife fund, not world wrestling fed.). Is that a start?

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Good for you! Speaking up for your ideals is a great way to contribute. Just remember to educate yourself as much as possible. There are few things more damaging than having IGNORANT people standing around making speeches.

At school we often have days where we where pajamas in order to raise money for a charity (you pay a dollar for every item (hats, crazy hair, pajamas, slippers) or weeks where we just plain donate to a charity and see which class can raise the most money. I think I might ask the principle to have one of those where we donate to WWF (world wildlife fund, not world wrestling fed.). Is that a start?

Working to raise money for a good cause is never a bad thing. There's a saying: "think globally, act locally". Go for it!​

 

[Lady Henevere]

Quote:
Hi, safarichick. My daughter, now age 12, is a lot like you. She has wanted to be a conservationist since she was about 5 (long before any of her friends had any idea what a conservationist is!). She wants to save the rainforest and protect species from going extinct. Her hero is Jane Goodall, the woman who has studied chimpanzees and created safe habitats for them in Africa. Goodall's books are very inspiring, and can give you an idea of how one person started out a very successful career in conservation. Try My Life with the Chimpanzees, if you're interested.

As for saving the rainforest, that starts at home. The rainforest is indeed being destroyed, but why? If you don't already know, find out the source of the problem (What products are being taken from the rainforests? What companies are doing it? Is there a better, more sustainable way to get these things?) and start raising awareness with friends and family. A lot of people participate in rainforest destruction without even knowing they are doing it, so helping people learn is a great place to start. Write a letter to the companies involved (or talk to a teacher at your school to see if the whole class can write letters). They might not respond, but it never hurts to let them know that the public (and the next generation of customers) is paying attention.

Fundraisers are good too. My daughter has been donating money from lemonade sales for many years. There are many worthy charitable organizations that work hard to protect the Earth's natural resources and wildlife. See if you can get a school fundraiser going, or do a booth at your school fair to raise money, or see if a local restaurant will help do a fundraiser (your charity can get a small part of each sale), etc.

Look at http://www.rootsandshoots.org/ for some more ideas about how to get involved. This is a good program for kids and teens who want to be involved but are not yet able to make a career out of it.

Check out local natural history museum, science museum, or colleges -- they may have good summer programs for kids and teens in the natural sciences. See, for example, the Los Angeles Natural History Museum's summer program here: http://www.nhm.org/site/activities-programs/adventures-in-nature (there is also lots of interesting information on that website).

And I totally agree with the others who say that you should work to do well in school and don't let others discourage you. Very good advice. And learn Spanish -- it will be useful when you go to visit the rainforests of Central or South America.

I hope this helps! Your goals are admirable and I hope you achieve them. Best of luck.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Quote:
Exactly.

I was pretty involved with the ecology movement when I was younger. Turned out a lot of it was lies. Sure there was clean up that needed to happen, but so much is politics, manipulation and outright fraud.

Why are all these happening now? It has to be tied to the loss of the rainforest. Its a sad fact.

These things have been happening for millions of years. If you are sobbing over news stories, you have bigger problems than the environment.

Maybe if I hadn't been lied to so many times since I was a kid I wouldn't be so skeptical. According to the "experts" we were supposed to have been in a second ice age decades ago

Yes, it's hard to pick truth from reality when you watch mainstream media. My family and I are reducing our carbon footprint. THat in itself is a really big step in enviormentaly-friendly practices..I was raised that way. I think the most damaging thing that has ever happened to me was when I was in 2nd grade and we were all told if "we" ,meaning the 2nd graders, didn't do something to stop the pollution the planet would be a hideous place to live when our children were born. Pretty heavy guilt trip for a kid. I felt embarrassed to be human! For real! I have always been generous and careful with everything before that, and especially after that. I don't think it affected any of the other kids, though.