[Vwdiesel] OT Ecosystem

[Shawn Wright]

On 19 Feb 2005 at 9:12, Libbybapa at wmconnect.com <Libbybapa at wmconnect.com> wrote:

> My comment about the atmosphere on venus was saying that it is avery similar 
> to what the earths atmosphere would be IF all of the burried hydrocarbon mass 
> is burned and released into the atmosphere of earth.    
> 
> >If the rain forests and other swathes of trees hadn't been
> >cut down what difference would that have made
> >to the CO2 levels?
> 
> Is that a rhetorical question?
> Large masses of plant life scrubb the co2 out of the atmosphere.  The issue 
> isn't whether or not co2 is intrinsically bad, it is that it is currently way 
> out of balance.  If we produced the amount of co2 that the plant mass on earth 
> used, plants and mammals would be happy.  

Having lived in a rainforest all my life, I am very aware of the changes in logging 
practices in the past 25 years. I grew up travelling the logging roads on Vancouver 
Island, and was comforted by the reasonable and responsible logging I saw 20 years 
ago, where nearly all of it was crown land. Now, contrary to what you will hear from 
the government and logging companies, you don't need to look far to see huge 
swaths of forest clearcut, and in many cases never replanted, because what was 
formerly crown forest lands has been sold, so re-forestation rules do not apply (or if 
they do, sufficient loopholes exist). Closer to urban areas, we are seeing 1000s of 
acres logged, then subdivided and sold as "country acreages". There is a hilltop near 
me that just suffered this fate - 26 lots ranging from 20 to 500 acres with more to 
come. Way cheaper than re-planting for the logging company. And they've been 
hauling logs from this area 7 days a week, dawn to dusk for months, while our mills 
are closing left and right - the logs are going straight to cargo ships, exporting jobs as 
well.

If you've never visited Vancouver Island, I suggest you do so soon, before one of the 
most beautiful places on this earth only remains preserved in a few small parks.

Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
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