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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E who wrote (10582)	10/3/2003 12:17:57 PM
From: E	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793707

On a related, subject: Is there anyone here who thinks the destruction of the rain forest is in any way worrisome? Or, does anyone have any upbeat thoughts on the subject to share? -The deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon, the largest stretch of forest in the world, has increased by 40% in the past year... -According to estimates, 20% of the world's oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest. -Two-thirds of the Earth's fresh water is found in the Amazon River basin... -70% of the plants currently found to be active against cancers come from the rainforests. -Over 120 prescription drugs and 25% of all pharmaceuticals originate from rainforest materials. -80% of all fruits and vegetables in our modern diet originated there. -The rainforest is so rich with life,that less than one percent of its three hundred thousand plant species have even been studied by scientists. -One rainforest plant, the Madagascar Periwinkle (now extinct in the wild), has produced a drug that increases the survival rate in children with leukemia from 20% to 80%. How many lives have been saved by this one plant? How many more can be saved by other plants that grow only in the rainforests? needham.mec.edu Global Rates of Destruction 2.4 acres (1 hectare) per second: equivalent to two U.S. football fields 149 acres (60 hectares) per minute 214,000 acres (86,000 hectares) per day: an area larger than New York City 78 million acres (31 million hectares) per year: an area larger than Poland While you were reading the above statistics, approximately 149 acres of rainforest were destroyed. [Distinguished scientists estimate an average of 137 species of life forms are driven into extinction every day; or 50,000 each year.] If deforestation continues at current rates, scientists estimate nearly all tropical rainforest ecosystems will be destroyed by the year 2030.... ran.org

To: E who wrote (10582)	10/3/2003 4:48:11 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793707

Was new, impressive scientific evidence presented that cast doubt on the anthropogenic causes of global warming? The real killer for the Eco people is this "Quote" "the head of the Russian Academy of Scientists (not a fringe scientist, by any means, although I'm sure the ad hominem attacks will start) saying that the only people who would be affected by the abandonment of Kyoto "would be several thousand people who make a living attending conferences on global warming" The Russian Scientists stick together. He would not have said this if they were not in agreement. So the top Russians don't believe the evidence. They have top Climatologists - although you will now see them attacked by those in the Environmental community who disagree. This was a "Political" Conference, not a "Scientific" one. They are not there to present scientific papers. There is an enormous amount of contrary evidence on "Global Warming" already known. The Russians just confirmed that they believe that side of the argument. You discuss conclusions at a meeting like this, and courses of actions. This nails the coffin shut on "Kyoto." And "Global Warming." BTW, welcome aboard, E!

To: E who wrote (10582)	10/3/2003 11:59:02 PM
From: Lazarus_Long	Respond to of 793707

The problem is that it is impossible to say with any certainty that man's activity is causing the observed warming trend and the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is enormous. It has to mean either falling living standards or strictly enforced worldwide population control or both. I doubt any existing gov't would survive the consequences. We'd better get this right. A false positive can have drastic consequences. Some science: clearlight.com Click the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 links in here. They show that a mini ice age existed prior to about 1700 and that we may just be pulling out of that. They also show that fluctuations of the size we are seeing are not at all uncommon. gcrio.ciesin.org