One topic of concern during a chat session yesterday hovered on deforestation. Becoming more and more palpable is the fact that rampant slashing and burning of tropical forests is second only to the energy sector as a source of greenhouses gases. It may escape many to draw the link between deforestation and global warming until you fully understand the effects of deforestation.
Most people think of forests only in terms of the CO2 they absorb. The rainforests of the Amazon, the Congo basin and Indonesia are thought of as the lungs of the planet. But the destruction of those forests will in the next four years alone, in the words of Sir Nicholas Stern, pump more CO2 into the atmosphere than every flight in the history of aviation to at least 2025.
But trees have many other significance. They are the bridge to turn sunlight and rain into nutrients in the soils. Without nutrients, the land becomes nothing more than a desert. Trees act as a buffer to absorb the rain like a sponge and in so doing prevent flooding. Floods will destroy crops, structures and as they flow into the ocean, pollute and disrupt the ecological system. Sea levels rise and temperature rises. Can anyone spell extinction?
The problem lies with civilization. Civilization has evolved with the foundation of rights and values clearly defining every boundaries so as to avoid conflicts. Nature has been classified as assets, properties or simply given a monetary value, depriving them of their rights and privileges. In so doing, the system is flawed while driven by greed and selfishness. Nature has been compromised, even abused for personal gains because the current value system underrates the importance of maintaining a natural balance in the planet we live on.
The question is how do we reach a balance between nature and humans keeping the ecological system running smoothly? With natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and tsunamis hitting the world with increased frequency, it is getting harder for people to ignore the damage they have already done to the natural order.
But trees have many other significance. They are the bridge to turn sunlight and rain into nutrients in the soils. Without nutrients, the land becomes nothing more than a desert. Trees act as a buffer to absorb the rain like a sponge and in so doing prevent flooding. Floods will destroy crops, structures and as they flow into the ocean, pollute and disrupt the ecological system. Sea levels rise and temperature rises. Can anyone spell extinction?
The problem lies with civilization. Civilization has evolved with the foundation of rights and values clearly defining every boundaries so as to avoid conflicts. Nature has been classified as assets, properties or simply given a monetary value, depriving them of their rights and privileges. In so doing, the system is flawed while driven by greed and selfishness. Nature has been compromised, even abused for personal gains because the current value system underrates the importance of maintaining a natural balance in the planet we live on.
The question is how do we reach a balance between nature and humans keeping the ecological system running smoothly? With natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and tsunamis hitting the world with increased frequency, it is getting harder for people to ignore the damage they have already done to the natural order.
We live in a troubled time filled with consistent economic, environmental and cultural problems. Somehow such turmoils are progressive with our evolution as a race. How we come together as a race to counter these problems will decide our future. There is no time to waste.
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