Untitled Document

The Gradual Destruction of Nature

The destruction of the forests and jungles of the world threatens to turn into a crisis and nobody will escape the effects of an arid earth that will result in a crisis of jobs, wood, plastics, food and many derived products and furthermore destructive changes to the climate.
We are speaking of something that is happening far away and amounts to millions of hectares of trees and plants being destroyed. The earth has been cleared to make farms and pastureland and this deforestation replaces the leafy jungle with a hard and calcinated weed. Some parts of land overshadow others that are eroded affecting the soil ar deeper levels..
The great burning of the mountains and jungles have reduced hundreds of hectares of the Amazon to ashes. Since 1950 approximately half of the wooded regions of the world have disappeared and now we lose about ten to twenty hectares a year. Eric Eckholm an expert environmentalist affirms that "each year a forest the size of Cuba is destroyed".
Two thirds of the jungle of Latin America has disappeared or been diminished considerably and half of the woodlands of Africa no longer exist.
Thailand has lost a quarter of its jungles in the last 15 years and the Philippines has lost a sixth in the last 10 years. Some regions of the Amazon, central Africa and the foothills of the Himalayas look like lunar landscapes.
Eckholm explains: "The poorer people of the world are obligated by circumstances that are beyond their control and that will destroy their future".
When the third world has lost all its trees perhaps we will have lost with them any possibility for major progress.
In India the problem is even worse, more than 6000 million tons of the superior canopy of vegetation has been destroyed, 10 tons for each inhabitant of this country and it is continually deteriorating. There exist powerful commercial forces that invite this continual destruction.
Almost two thirds of the worlds hard woods come from South East Asia, principally the Philippines and Indonesia. Thailand, which was once one of the principle producers of teak, has spent up to 100 million dollars on buying foreign wood products.
In the case of the Amazonian regions, thanks to their immensity, they have not been hit as hard. From the Andes to the Atlantic there are nine South American countries. The dark carpet of the Amazon basin forms the tropical jungle and it continues to be the largest in the world at 7.8 million kilometres square.
The reserves of wood in the Amazon could supply the needs worldwide for 15 years. Two thirds of the jungle is intact but gradually its borders are being consumed and its centre devoured.
2 million peasants have had to settle in jungle areas of Peru and there is continuous migration into these areas due to economic and social factors.
Ecuador is being exploited for its petroleum with pipelines for natural gas all the way through the jungle to the coast.
Brazil has provoked major damage with the Transamazonica road that leaves the country open to be exploited on a grand scale. They are going to tear down near to 3 million hectares in order to construct the road and its secondary routes.

How does all this devastation affect the world?
The scientists that have studied the effects of deforestation on the climate have arrived at two contradictory conclusions:
1. Some believe that with the disappearance of the forests the surface of the earth will become "shiny" increasing the reflection of the solar light and diminishing the temperature all over the world. Something that will also seriously affect change in the cycles of the rain.
2. Other scientists think that the climate will tend to be hotter due to the "greenhouse effect" and the release of carbon dioxides and fossil fuels when forests are burnt which could result in the melting of the polar icecaps and a rise in sea level.
George Iedec (one of the advisors of natural resources in Washington, DC) says "this is only speculation, however, I am afraid when we arrive at the final proof will be too late". The truth is that now we can see that neither the environmentalists or the governments can do anything to stop the situation.
We need to all be united to defend the planet. The USA in these moments has assigned great sums of money to experiment with poisonous chemicals in the jungles with the pretext of combating narco-trafficking. They are now also trying to develop biological arms to destroy the coca. In these moments the USA is the country that is causing the most damage to the planet with its experiments that affect the natural balance of the ecosystem.
The island of BIKINI is an ecological disaster resulting from a nuclear experiment carried out by the USA and it is not known if it will ever recover. Hundreds of natives were evacuated from their homes with the promise that they would be able to return to the island. Now it is 50 years later and even now it is not possible to live there, all that is produced is contaminated with nuclear radiation. There are many examples, to write a book would not be sufficient.
We cannot leave Colombia open for them to try out their chemical arms because this will be followed with them trying new chemicals that will eventually finish with man, birds and animals. Sooner or later all of these arms that the USA experiment with will be used against human beings.
This is more than just a problem of the interests of coarse politics, we have a responsibility with the life of our planet and home and there must be no ecological disaster caused due to ignorance of those that presume that the civilisation can be left alone and without proper attention. We cannot continue to tolerate the arrogance and pride of the ignorant people that are based in false arguments that hide their unspeakable intentions of finishing with the little green that remains on the planet, the later we react, the worse the consequences will be.
The case of Latin America is another palpable indication of what the international politics of the USA is in truth. Lamentably the task of developing the environment of Latin America and the Caribbean needs will and good ideas in order for us to do something positive to defend he environment and change those that give up under the political and economic pressures of those that are entangled in the consequences of a crazy race that wants more and more.
If we now add this to the new threat of chemical war against the narcotraffickers that conceals the political agendas of conquering and anihalating the people that are fighting for a better future we can see that the picture that we are presented with is not encouraging.
We now know that in Colombia there exists many rivers that are biologically dead, devoid of oxygen. For example the rivers of Medellin and Bogota. Equally there are vast territories like the zones of Cafetero (Antioquia, Tolima, Risarald and Quindio) that are chemically contaminated and biologically inadequate for farming, we find the rice producing region in the same situation etc.

Millions of dollars have been designated by the governments of Colombia and the USA to continue with the chemical experiments in the jungle without giving any boundaries with the excuse of making a conscious investigation into the complex problem of coca and its so far unsuccessful solutions.
The situation has now reached the extreme point where the Colombian government has permitted the use of poisons for aerial fumigation to be released in habitated areas harming the health of those that live there and in many cases resulting in human victims being recovered before the mute governmental and media information.
In 1990 experts confirmed that Latin America and the Caribbean contains 40% of the vegetable and animal species of the world in its tropical rainforests. They also confirmed that if the deforestation continues in less than 40 years (2030) between 1000,000 and 350,000 species will be extinct. This is without taking into account the threat of the fight against narco-trafficking.
Now, in these moments, we are beginning to see the devestating affects.
Of the 250 thousand superior species of plants 90 thousand are to be found in the tropics of Latin America.
10% of these are recognised as medicinal.
Another 10% can be used industrially.
And 15% are edible….more than 31 thousand species that can be applied usefully, but here lies the problem: for this there are no dispensible funds and the consciousness of the dusty politicians is never open to see the clarity of responsibility they have in the course of the civilisation of the planet.
We also need to feel this responsibility if in truth we want to colaborate with Mother Nature, the Pachamama of our ancestors.
It is valuable to cite here a phrase spoken by the wise chief Seathl of the Durwamish over 100 years ago: "Continue to dirty your own bed and one night you will be suffocated in your own waste"
Many accept that we are approaching a total disaster and also know that we can avoid it. But this ecological problem that we are experiencing today cannot be solved in one day by planting a tree in the garden or by feeding the birds, we need to make radical actions, total, definitive and very soon.
Man should not now be looking to be the king of creation, we have arrived at the time to occupy our planet with humility, together with the air, the birds, the woodlands, the wind and the stars.
SAVE THE JUNGLE, SAVE NATURE!

Attentively
VASUDEV
27.03.01

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