Quote:
Originally Posted by psili
Do you have any links / articles handy where deforestation, soil erosion, ocean species depletion, etc. have drastically subsided? Granted, I'm sure there's some things that are better managed in certain places, but I'd be willing to guess the majority of all that "save the world hippy shit" still applies today -- just isn't in the media like is was back in the 80s. Doesn't mean it's not happening, though.
|
Excuse the interuption psili - in answer to your first question, no. Sure there are regional aspects, but overall the tendency is an increase in deforestation and decline in species.
Some regions have arrested the denuding of terrain, but it's clear that once one area gets under control, another part of the planet starts to rip up forests. This is being monitored by some international orgs with access to satellite facilities. For example, they can pinpoint the area surrounding a small village somewhere in China and see the evidence of deforestation around that area - and maintain data of the overall. Had access to some of this a while back, - least up to a level (need security clearance otherwise) - this research/monitoring is being financed big-time by a number of governments who are also dumping funding for sustainable projects into a endangered regions globally.
Marine life (hell, this is too long for GFY
) and land species are also under pressure (read threat). Can point to one area which was very rich in coral 40 years ago. Now, the coral is dead in that short time. Despite that, National Geo declared it the "most intense biodiverse place on the planet". Considering it is not the Amazon basis, but just north of Panama - that says a lot about what was the "world's greenhouse" in the center of South America.
Sustainability/climate and ecological change is a long and complex story - with each interacting with the other. But... good news, there is a lot more awareness now than in the past and even governments are paying attention and many are allocating very substantial budgets to aid and preserve targetted regions of the world which are considered to be under pressure. At the same time there are starts of change on different levels... eg in architectural design when used for the construction of homes, with the object of making homes more self-sustainable and with lower emission levels etc.
Doubt doubt the damage already done will never be replaced - the cost is more than anyone could comprehend. The first stage of arresting the damage has started, but far too slow in happening. "Civilization" always was a problem - looks like that is here to stay until the last gulp for air while trying to get a tank of gas - a human trait
