Amazon Rainforest Shrinking Faster
- June 27, 2003
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Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is shrinking at a faster rate than ever before accoding to the state-run National Institute for Space Research. An estimated 25,500 square kilometers of forest vanished between August 2001 and August 2002, compared to an estimated 18,170 square kilometers the year before. That’s a 40% increase in one year. Not good.
Something needs to be done about it. Brazil is a huge nation, almost as big as the US and with a smaller population. I know the Amazon river basin takes up a massive chunk of that land. I know the Amazon rainforest forces the population more towards the south and east. All those people need food, which of course comes from farms and pastureland. I can understand why people need to make room for that pastureland, but a plan needs to be created that limits the amount of clearing to a certain boundary. Only so much land is needed for cattle. Calculate future population growth with increased demand for beef, milk, etc. and set the boundary out so far to allow for the needed amount of land. At the same time, come up with a new ways of getting the same amount of produce without using as much land. Of course, then you’ll have animal lovers all foam-mouthed for cruelty to animals if you have them in more confined spaces. It’s a very difficult situation. One that I won’t solve in the couple minutes it took me to write this, but one that most definitely needs to be addressed.
via: dangerousmeta!