Views...Rainforests

Ok, this might get ugly.

Let's discuss rainforests. They slash and burn the trees to grow crops to feed their people. What gives anybody the right to tell another country what they can and can't do with their own trees? Also, when people give money to people who work to "save the rainforests", exactly how are they going to do that? I don't know how you could convince someone that keeping a nasty, disease infested, swampy forest is better than eating.

My friend Dave told me they burn the trees to get the ash for nutrients in the soil. This might work a little, but grinding the trees would allow for a lot more water retension. That's Dave's idea. The problem with that is it would take (1)specialized machinery and (2)work. Specialized machinery costs money to purchase and maintain, plus it takes skilled labor to operate and maintain. Rainforests ain't full of skilled labor. The work could not be done by locals, at least not at first. They would need to be trained. Specialized machinery would most certainly create some amount of erosion/pollution/noise. Hippies that want to save rainforests would never allow that.

They also sell lumber. Not everything gets burnt. The countries sell lumber to generate much needed revenue. If you own anything made of Rosewood, Mahogany, Teak, Ebony, or Sandalwood... congratulations, you have contributed to the degradation of a rainforest.

My problem with saving the rainforests is the whole endangered species thing.

My answer is always "If that critter/tree was so darn important there would be a lot more of them."

You will never convince me that the world will be worse off if Pandas go extinct. (I know, pandas don't live in the rainforest, but they are pretty well endangered.)

Also if you consider how much pesticide was dumped all over Panama during the construction of the Panama Canal, the region is still just fine. As far as rainforests go, it's also the MOST disease free on the planet.

Perhaps next time I'll post on my veiws of how Unions have destroyed our country.