- Thread starter
- #21
Another way man is ruining the earth is deforestation. Feel free to browse over 100 articles in our literature on deforestation here:
Search — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
This is an authorized Web site of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is a research tool for publications in various languages produced by Jehovah’s Witnesses.wol.jw.org
A few examples among these - from over 30 years ago:
Gone in One Second! — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
This is an authorized Web site of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is a research tool for publications in various languages produced by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
"Case in Point: Brazil
In 1987 satellite photographs of the Amazon basin showed that deforestation rates in this one area were higher than some estimates had been for deforestation of the whole planet! As people burned the forest to clear it, fires by the thousands lighted the nights. The smoke cloud was the size of India and so dense that some airports had to close. By one estimate, the Amazon basin every year loses an area of rain forest the size of Belgium."
From over 15 years ago:
Rain Forests—Who Will Save Them? — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
This is an authorized Web site of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is a research tool for publications in various languages produced by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
"Long before the present population explosion, many governments pillaged forests in their quest for power and riches. For instance, the British Empire’s need for timber to build ships led to the destruction of Britain’s own oak stands and then the teak forests of Burma and Thailand. The same empire denuded forests in India to fuel iron foundries. Other forests were cleared for rubber, coffee, and cocoa plantations.
After the second world war, however, chain saws and bulldozers made it possible to clear-cut forests on a new scale. More and more, fragile forests were exploited as a resource.....
Official corruption too has written death warrants for many forests. A logging permit is worth big money. For a bribe, some dishonest officials have been known to give short-term concessions to companies that plunder the timber with no regard for conservation.
The biggest threat to the wildlife in forests, however, is, not logging, but changing woodlands over to agriculture. When the land is fertile, in some cases such a changeover may be justified. But often, corrupt or incompetent officials have needlessly signed away forests that can never be recovered.....
Deforestation and loss of wildlife, then, are not the inevitable result of increasing population. They are often the result of mismanagement, greedy commerce, crime, and corrupt government. That being so, what hope is there for conserving the immense diversity of life that is found in tropical rain forests?"
to be continued
Among countries with an annual per capita GDP of least $4,600, deforestation has ceased to exist.
Source: Returning forests analyzed with the forest identity
The title of this NASA article is “Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study Finds.”
Carbon Dioxide Fertilization Greening Earth, Study Finds
From a quarter to half of Earth’s vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study.web.archive.org
Both of these things are excellent news.
Congratulations to the environentalists for saving the forests.
And at the same time, shame on the environmentalists for ignoring their own successes.
I don't know why, but the environmental movement hates good news. For some reason, they always feel the need to claim that things are getting worse and worse, even when things are getting better and better.
========================
Its both. But, of course, you are correct that plants do better with more CO2 in the atmosphere.
Our literature is balanced - even more so our current literature. We don't just report how man is ruining the earth. For example:
Watching the World — Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY
This is an authorized Web site of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is a research tool for publications in various languages produced by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
"Overgrazing, drought, deforestation, and overexploitation of water resources are turning vast areas of China into a dust bowl. Hence, Chinese authorities have begun “the biggest ecological project the world has seen,” says New Scientist. “Under this programme, which has become known as the ‘green great wall,’ trees have been planted on an unprecedented scale to create a barrier that will halt the dust in its tracks.” Grasses and shrubs are also being planted to stabilize dusty soils. Begun in 1978, the project is almost halfway to its goal of covering 86 million acres [35 million ha] of land with trees and drought-tolerant plants."
Notice that we are aware of deforestation and unwise use of water resources, but we also report on positive changes. Simply we report on both things getting worse and things getting better.
