Farms Lost to Jungles Create Debate on Rain Forest

1-30-2009 • NY Times

For every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster. “There is far more forest here than there was 30 years ago,” said Ms. O

1 Comments in Response to Farms Lost to Jungles Create Debate on Rain Forest

Comment by foundZero

Entered on: 1/30/2009 12:54:47 AM

Same argument here in Arizona. Sure you can bulldoze an area and things will grow back, but our our desert ecosystems take hundreds of years to re-establish. Look at hillsides that burned over 50 years ago at altitude and there's just a few blades of grass.

Now with invasive species, they get a toe-hold in former native grasslands, forget about native grasses, they take longer to reestablish. And along with that, kiss every native species that depended on them.

Those who say this is no problem aren't being intellectually honest. This simply suggests that one plant or animal is just as good as another, or for that matter, an entire ecosystem. Just throw down some sod and a few bushes and who can complain, right? A more honest approach would be to simply admit that your valuation of nature is zero and that you could give a lick-dang.

At any rate, interdependence of species is something you can seek to maintain or suffer the loss of. And I guess it wouldn't matter to anyone who doesn't get their food from the land. I guess for most people, food grows on the shelves of supermarkets.

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