Darn the wheel of the world! Why must it continually turn over? Where is the reverse gear? (Jack London)
Over the decades I have watched acres and acres and acres, ad infinitum, of fully grown forests levelled to the bare ground that is then covered with cement, private home subdivisions, sprawling apartment units, little and big shopping centers and malls. Trees weep; people shake their heads and move on. I have recently seen a few articles about the diminishing CO2 levels, and the emotional cry, “Something must be done!” I have read no article that states, “We must stop cutting down the forests. Trees inhale CO2 and exhale oxygen.” It is literally elementary education–or it used to be.
Reading history reminds me that all is either repetition or stagnation. There is no point in going emotionally ballistic over the daily “new” tragedies directly related to “old news” like the following. (Note: The second paragraph is the clincher.)
from Popular Health Almanac 1876-1877
“Destruction of forests and woodlands.—The rapid and improvident destruction of our forests and woodlands, and the prevailing indifference displayed on the subject of their preservation and cultivation, has become an almost stereotyped theme of warning and regret. It is demonstrable that the immediate consequences of this improvidence are an inconstancy and diminution of the rainfall, and of the water supply of the great rivers and lakes, and hence a general deterioration of climate, to say nothing of a host of more remote and complex evils that inevitably follow in course of time, and largely affect the destiny of men and of countries. These consequences have been abundantly realized in the desolation of many once fertile districts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and have caused the enactment and enforcement of wise laws for the preservation and management of the forests and woodlands in most European countries.
“The destruction of timber land going on in our continent on a scale of unparalleled magnitude cannot fail, in time, perhaps slowly, but no less surely, to affect the climate, the salubrity, the rainfall and water supply of large districts of our country also; and it may then cost our children millions of dollars to remedy our offense against the balance of nature, which once could have been averted without expense, by wisdom and economy.”