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"Earth's greatest resource is literally going up in smoke, as over 320 sq. miles of irreplaceable primary rainforest are burned or logged every day" Andy Lopez Invisible Gardener
"The Earth is neither an ecosystem to be preserved, nor a quarry to be exploited for selfish and short-range economic reasons, but a garden to be cultivated for the development of its own potentialities and the potentialities of the human species".
RENE DUBOS
The Problem:The CureNot a day goes by without El Nino being blamed for one world problem or another. The weather has changed because of El Nino, this is happening and that is happening all because of El Nino! are all we can read about in the newspapers. Now we have La Nina. While El Nino is the warming of the oceans, La Nina is its cooling.
Let me set you straight about a few things:
First lets talk trees, plain and simply trees. It is my strong belief that by removing over 75% of the world's trees we have set ourselves up for some major weather changes to happen on our planet. Humans have done more damage to the earth's forest's within the past few thousand years then all the dinosaur's, insects, whales, fishes, dogs, cats; all living things combined! The American Indians lived for thousands of years in complete harmony with its environment and its creatures, without a single pollution problem and without cutting down their forests. In Europe, we have managed to cut almost all the major forests leaving small isolated patches of forest growing more poorly every year. In North America, we have cut down 90% of our own old forest, where before we had a thick blanket of forest from coast to coast.
In Southeast Asia we have a perfect example of what not to do and what happens if we do not listen to the warning signals. In Asia a drought is now in its second year and over 20 billion dollars in crop damage has been estimated for this region. This has lead to a massive food and water storage. Food and water shortages can only lead to diseases and many sick people and sick animals. Food shortages also lead to attacks from insects and rats as they compete with you for the food and water. What does this have to do with El Nino and trees?
Let me explain:
Southeast Asia has recently under gone a tremendous economic growth. How, by cutting down their forest, creating more jobs, causing more people to move to the cities abandoning their farms for better wages. More jobs always translate to better economic growth but at what cost? In a rush to develop their economies, governments have allowed timber companies to log and clear cut major areas of their countries leaving the remaining forests, rivers and lakes even more vulnerable to damages caused by fires. droughts, flooding and heavy rains as well as damages from pollution, weather changes in temp, heavy winds, etc. This economic growth is only temporary and either slows down or stops completely when you run out of trees to cut. Especially in a society where there is very little of anything you can do to earn a living for you and your family.
Countries cannot go on saying that they want to become a developed country when they cannot handle such basics as protecting their own environment. Any economical developments that do not take into consideration their countries future needs for water and other basic needs of their people, their animals, trees etc., are heading for a disaster. As the one Southeast Asia is now having. El Nino caused drought combined with a stagnant economic growth forced people back to their old ways of farming, only to find that the drought has made it impossible for them to feed themselves at least until the next growing season, if one does come ( they must have a typical monsoon type weather) but a monsoon like weather will cause other problems, one that they normally do not have; that of flooding since they no longer have enough trees to hold the water.
Drought causes food shortages that fuel further inflation by causing food, water, the basics to go up in price, which worsened the effects of the current economic Asian crisis. In Vietnam alone, over 900 fires have burned this year, devastating its coffee crop and causing over $385 million in damages. The drought further causes shortages in electricity and water supplies. More than 7.5 million people in over 15 Indonesian provinces are also facing food shortages as reported by a recent news article quoting World vision, an international relief organization. In Thailand, which is the worlds largest rice exporter, many do not have enough water to plant a second crop this year. With food shortages come disease and many dying from illnesses unheard of in modern countries. In Southeast Asia, the hotter then normal temperatures have lead to an increase in mosquitoes( they only need less then 1 day to reproduce in a little water), which have helped to spread diseases like Malaria. Vietnam has had to cope with an infestation of rats foraging for food ( remember Europe and the Black Plague?) while in the Philippines, locals are seeing an advancing army of worms! Another good example of what not to do then blame it on El Nino is the recent fires in Mexico that were started by either farmers or drug growers (poppies, etc.). Slash and burn has been allowed to go on by many countries but in this case a little bit of common sense would have told you not to star a fire during a drought! In this case the fires have cause millions of damages to their rain forests as well as killing off many environmentally protected and endanger as well as very rare species of animals, birds, insects many of which are still undiscovered.
All of this only causes a country to slip backwards in its economic growth. Many people will die, burial becomes a problem, diseases continue, droughts continue, or worse flooding follows drought, with no trees to hold the water. No trees to keep the weather in check. Believe me , this will effect us all eventually. Another example of the misuse of our resources is Florida. By diverting the everglade's sources of water to almost nothing, we have set up ourselves into a bigger mess then we can ever imagine! More people need more water. With more people come the need for more housing, more housing needs more basics such as electricity, roads, cars, of which bring more pollution and more damage to the environment. Florida is now having a drought also and with the recent fires has become another ecological disaster in the making.
Scientist are saying that we have begun upon a path of higher temperatures than ever before. Higher temperatures then any in the last few hundred years! while at the same time we are having drought followed by flooding, going from one extreme to another like the swing of a pendulum. The world's weather patterns are swinging from one extreme to another just like the pendulum. Why is this? Mother Nature has provided us with an excellent shock absorber- The worlds' trees. Trees also are called the worlds' lungs because they do the 'breathing' part. It is also this 'breathing' that causes balance in the world's weather. That is why I also call trees Mother Natures shock absorber since it keeps the pendulum from swinging from one extreme to another.
It has taken humankind only a few thousand years to undo what Mother Nature has taken millions of years to produce. The critical mass of all the worlds' trees that is needed to maintain this balance has been decreased to below its most efficient level. What is this critical mass? the amount of trees needed on the earth at the same time that produces enough positive effects to counter act the negative effects caused by modern humans. As I pointed out, American Indians (for example) lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years without doing any damage to its environment. They respected all living things and they also respected Mother Natures wisdom. Why can't we do the same? Why does progress, technology have to mean destruction of Mother Natures laws?
It doesn't. Humankind can learn to progress technologically and at the same time progress environmentally. We can have trees, birds, plants, insects, all living in harmony with us and each other and still be technologically advanced. "The frog does not pollute the pond he/she lives in" is an old proverb (with a new twist) that we must apply to our present day lives. we must not allow our 'pond' to become so polluted that we cannot survive in it. It is never too late to make the necessary changes to our lifestyles; it is never too late to plant a tree or start a vegetable garden; it is never too late to ban the use of anything that can endanger our little 'pond'. It is never too late to tell the world the truth about El Nino and La Nina. Tell them that humans are to blame! Tell them why the cycles of drought and flooding are getting worse every year; tell them why fires are burning our forests (we still allow clear cutting of forests); tell them the real reason we are getting a bigger and bigger 'hole' in the ozone layer (Didn't I tell you? Trees take in CO2 and produce O2 some of which we humans and other living things use, some also goes up into the atmosphere and is converted into O3 (ozone), keeping the ozone layer strong. Get the connection?). Less trees more CO2, less O2, less O3, more CO2 (green house effect)
Cutting down trees is bad enough but we also happen to be polluting more and more. Trees absorb toxins but up to a certain point, then the toxins kill the tree. All of which depends on trees maintaining balance. Normally humans and animals combined produce a certain amount of 'natural' gases that go up into the atmosphere and which trees then absorb and convert into O2 and so on. trees are also very important part of our water cycle. Trees regulate this 'water' cycle by their 'breathing'. which is naturally cyclic (due to environmental conditions such as seasons, temp of ground/air etc.), amount of sunlight increases photosynthesis that increases the trees breathing.
We have been having an El Nino on and off for many years now, with each El Nino having a greater effect then the one before. Each year the pendulum swings to a farther extreme then the year before. Each year we increase pollution rather then decrease pollution. Each year we manage to cut down more trees (OK so we plant trees as we cut but think about it, how can a 1 year old tree do what a 50 or 100 or a 200 year old tree could do? it would take that 1 year old tree at least 50 years of growth to start to producing positive energy to the whole and that is IF it survives since it will need energy to survive. It's like interest, $100 earns more then $1. Got it?
What we can do
1...Plant more trees. Buy a living Christmas tree. Vary the trees from year to year buying what grows best in your area. Think about fruit trees. Vote to ban dead Christmas trees. Use home made trees or buy imitation trees and use every year. Write to your state capital. tell them you want to stop killing trees for the state capital, even if they say they have a good excuse. Use a tree growing there to decorate it. Have your school plant more tree, have your local government plant more trees, cities and trees go hand in hand. More trees mean cleaner air which mean happier healthier people. More trees mean less heat and more water. Less severe wind, less major weather changes.
2.Feed your trees organically. help Ban the use of chemical fertilizers. Make more compost. Feed trees rock dust and clean water. Use a garden filter or water transformer to clean it up. Mulch everything. Trees love mulch.
3.Use only natural ways to control diseases and pest on your trees and garden, lawns etc.
4.Promote more interest in healing what forests we have.
5.Promote clean water, clean air. Follow the 5 R's
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink, Replant!
6.Help the world do the same!
Happy Growing Organically of course!
Andrew Lopez
All rights reserved
http://www.invisiblegardener.com
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