TREES OF LIFE:FORESTS IN PERIL
  • home
  • Blog
  • About The Book
    • Bookstore
    • Press
  • The Author
  • Videos
  • Contact

September 15th, 2018

9/15/2018

0 Comments

 
OUR PASSIVE WAY
 
We have been discussing the necessity of playing a more aggressive role in initiating changes in our relationship with the Natural World. Why do we need to change and how do we change it? We know adult human beings tend to be opposed and somewhat frighten of change due to the uncertainty of the results. Our comfort level remains highest with the status-que. We start life unaware of failure and ready to experiment and learn. Aging continues to reduce our flexibility and willingness to try new ways. When faced with major issues and concerns, it is more comfortable to remain passive and accept the current status, rather than change course to resolve the problem. It is better to ignore the problem than risk the outcome of change! So, we stick our heads in the sand and hope for a better tomorrow but, tomorrow never comes. Improvement does not happen without action!
What will tomorrow bring if we fail to care for Mother Earth? What can we expect if we continue to remain innocent of the historical data that proves civilizations fail and collapse when their environments are destroyed? The passive positions of our leaders, even religious scholars, have failed to initiate actions to enlighten and protect the natural world from its rapid decline. E.O. Wilson states,” Civilization was purchased by the betrayal of Nature “. He goes on to point out, “Even if the rest of life is counted of no value beyond the satisfaction of human bodily needs, the obliteration of Nature is a dangerous strategy “. Urbanization has betrayed Nature for a second time! Much of our population now live in cocoon like environments, found in the cities and suburbs, believing this life-style capable of satisfying human fulfillment needs. Human needs go much deeper and broader than the artificial environments of urban living. Without a spiritual relationship with Mother Earth and our Natural World, can we expect people to understand the importance of protecting our majestic planet? Can one appreciate the necessity of our Natural World without the knowledge of the complexity and detail of the story of creation?
Much work is ahead, and it must start with the people! It must come from the bottom up, as leadership is too busy satisfying their individual needs and desires. Neither the secular nor the spiritual communities have effectively dealt with the issues of our Natural World and our dependency upon that world. There still exists tensions between the interpretations of the scientific community and religious community. Are these tensions standing in the way of resolution? We must recognize science has only provided a deeper appreciation of the facts within the story of creation and allowed us to better understand the detail of Creation. With this expanded knowledge base, we must now come together to re-kindle our spiritual relationship with Mother Earth! Religion must accept that the scientific facts about Creation are not in conflict with our deeply held religious beliefs and, science must incorporate the human element into the scientific decision-making process so we can redeem our spiritual relationship with our earthly home! Life is truly a circle, all things are connected and every organism contributes in a small way to the cycle of life. Together we can provide a more desirable future! 
 
                                                        
                          
0 Comments

September 03rd, 2018

9/3/2018

0 Comments

 
                                                   WHY AND WHAT ACTION?
        Our last article talked about the need to convert words to action, but requires more discussion of why and how we can accomplish these actions. I have presented numerous facts that describe the decline of our natural world but, feel compelled to provide more detail. Tropical rain forests are actually more important than other forested lands as they house an estimated 50% of all life on Earth yet, cover only 2% of Earth’s land surface. Some tropical forest communities have over 400 tree and plant species present. We have currently identified almost 10 million unique species of organisms and scientists suggest we have discovered less than 80% of species occupying our land base and less than 90% of our sea organisms. The estimated number of different species on our planet reaches as high as 50 million. It has been projected that our tropical forest will be eliminated within the next 100 years. These statistics provide additional supporting data for defining the complexity of creation and rationale for why we need adjustments in our relationship with the natural world.
I found an appropriate quote from Dr. E. O. Wilson, renowned educator and author on survival of life on this planet. “According to archaeological evidence, we strayed from Nature with the beginning of civilization roughly ten thousand years ago. That quantum leap beguiled us with an illusion of freedom from the world that had given us birth. It nourished the belief that the human spirit can be molded into something new to fit changes in the environment and culture, and as a result the timetables of history desynchronized. A wiser intelligence might now truthfully say of us at this point: here is a chimera, a new and very odd species come shambling into our universe, a mix of Stone Age emotion, medieval-self-image, and godlike technology. The combination makes the species unresponsive to the forces that count most for its own long-term survival”. This seems to explain, as best we can, why intelligent people continue to be passive while our life sustaining Natural World continues to disappear! Is it not greed that breeds this passiveness?
Step number one is to re-define our vision and goals of management for our natural world. The science of forestry must first recognize that forests are so much more than just a group of trees. The science of forestry is far more complex than a normal agricultural process. Many tree species have life expectancies of hundreds, even thousands, of years and contribute life sustaining elements far more critical than wood products. Forests are the home for 80% of the worlds terrestrial bio-diversity. The story of creation is extremely complex and, we must never forget that the element of “Diversity” is the single most important element that allows this majestic planet to function day-to-day. The question is how do we manage for diversity? We first re-establish the goal of forest land management to forest health, vigor and diversity, we stop applying management treatments to large land units and start treating individual forest communities. Read the land! I have defined what I mean by a forest community in the past, but let me expand. Agricultural lands are divided into square units for purposes of land subdivision for ownership identification. This has resulted in dividing the property into fields that are usually square and frequently fenced. The equipment that has been developed to till and pick the crops, are designed to function well on these individual field shapes. The trouble is that not every acre is the same within the field, so production varies acre by acre. Today’s farmers explain they have fixed the problem by putting a disc in the computer so each individual acre is treated based upon the needs of that particular acre. Someone had to be able to read the land to develop the computer disc! The same principle applies to forested lands. Every forest community is different and demands an individual treatment thus providing for the natural diversity of forest communities. The object is not to make each community the same but to maintain or enhance the natural diversity that is natures way! One can still package treatments of several communities to offer a large enough project to attract commercial operators. Even natural western conifer communities have 4 to 8 different species within the community and usually a variety of age classes, not to mention the diversity of other living organisms within each community. Northern hardwood and central hardwood communities have even more diversity within each unique stand. I now live in Shenandoah valley of Virginia where over harvesting a hundred plus years ago, left the mountains almost void of trees. Today the mountainsides are covered with beautiful second grow central hardwoods. Fortunately, the vast majority of these stands were allowed to regenerate with natural seed sources from indigenous tree species thereby, providing diverse conditions similar to the original communities. In addition to a variety of age classes, you can identify 15 to 20 different tree and shrub species within each community. We learn through observation! If we truly care about future generations, we must observe and take action! Science and technology will not provide the desired future we seek! Nature's Way copies the story of Creation!           
                                              
0 Comments

    Archives

    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.