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October 23, 2005
The Earth's lungs grow smaller
Image source: AP Photo/Dado Galdieri
A BBC report last week revealed that the rate of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has been underestimated by around 60%. An article published in Science magazine documents how the NASA space agency has used an ultra-high-resolution technique to examine just how much selective logging has been going on. Although considered more environmentally-friendly than clear-felling, roads still have to be constructed and heavy machinery brought in. The Amazon rainforest is one of the world's great treasures of biodiversity and its function as a carbon sink means that its rapid diminution can only serve to speed up global warming and climate change. If one were to surgically remove a person's lungs bit by bit, that person becomes very unhealthy and they die. Cutting out the Earth's 'lungs', on the other hand, is considered 'progress'.
Posted by jeremy at October 23, 2005 06:26 PM
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