That makes me really mad. I've long thought deforestation was a far worse problem than just about any other you care to name. Clear cutting the coastal redwoods, denuding the entire island of Madagascar, etc. etc. I find it very troubling.

Don't even get me started! A couple of days ago, there was a news article about the rain forests disappearing much faster than thought previously. The rate is "alarming." Whitecat8

"I find it very troubling."

More like horrifying!

I've watched them devastate the temperate rainforests around me.
They're full of orchids and rarities found nowhere else, either.
I saw the massive effort to deforest large areas of Indonesia, particularly over on the Kalimantan side of Borneo.
You could still see the carnage smoldering for untold miles.

I even remember seeing the process in the Philippines, back in the '70's!
It seems to me, that it's caused by the first world corporations greed run amok.
Coupled by WHO saving every single baby born without any population control.
The major religions fight any birth control, tooth and nail!
You just can't keep everyone alive, yet still encourage traditional birthrates.
Even if it fills the coffers of the dominant religions and provides cheap labor for industry.
With prosperity, comes responability or you'll lose it all!

Particularly in S.A., the issue seems to be toward cheap food for the US!
God forbid we actually pay what something is worth and provide a decent standard of living for farmers.
(Both domestic and foreign!)
Sugar is a complete luxury, as are out of season fruits and veggies.
You'd be happier and healthier to eat seasonally and make sure that it's oil free food!
That means local food that isn't shipped or trucked 1000's of miles!

I'm so fortunate to have my own grassfed beef, as well as large gardens.
It's not easy and I frequently hate every four legged thing I see.
But I'm heathier than I've been in years and have a closeness to the land that my grandparents must've had.
It'll be sadly interesting to see how long this can be sustained before the inevitable collapse.

I truly hope that the local loggers have be slowed down enough to have not damaged the still moderately stable local eco-system.
When the oil that fuels all of this is gone, my livestock and gardens will have to feed a lot of us.
BTW...
I'm no stranger to any of this.
Big Oil/Geothermal has provided all of the income for my family since before I was born.
Iceland America Energy is curently trying to lure my dad into running one of their major US projects.
It would be a go, but my mom refuses to move to LA.
I'm hearing that the area hasn't look this bad since the
Reagan years.
They were pretty devistating to virtually everyone, although we've forgotten it.
All of this is so fragil and can't last much longer.
The oil that fuels this whole process is virtually gone!
We've been aware of that, since the eighties!
The major brains of the oil geologists predicted this over forty years ago.
No one wanted to hear it.

I just hope that there are still enough areas left to rejuvinate after we can't afford to rip 'em out anymore!

Sorry to throw out one of my rants in the middle of one of your beautiful photos, Ian!
(But, that was probably your point anyway!)
It just gets my blood boiling.
Especially, after seeing and smelling it up close.
Foreign as well as local!
We're such complete hypocrites to complain about other countries practices.
We do the exact same thing, yet tsk...tsk others for it!

***Scott climbs off his soapbox and walk away mumbling!***

Well said, Scott - could not agree more (including much needed population control)
Florida is disappearing at alarming rates...I walk by a place full of oaks, and a week later, all oaks are being torn out...All in the name of Cookie Cutter houses. Subsidized housing, and condos...
Whenever we go on a canoe trip, it is amazing how easy it is to spot which side of the river is the Preserve and which one - the apartments, without looking far at all -- shopping carts and broken bikes in the water is the clue

Olya

Well you just said what a lot of us think, Scott. One thing you didn't mention was ethanol ( fuel alcohol ). This was touted back in the 90s as the answer to all our gasoline problems, it's "cleaner" though it doesn't produce as much energy. The Brazilian Government, in theory at least, has enlightened environmental policies, yet for the past 10 years at least they have been encouraging more plantations of sugar cane to provide the raw material. And where do you think the biggest growth area is? No points for guessing. Amazonia. There is a big fuss here at the moment about possible energy blackouts. Why do they think there is an energy shortage, with population growing at 4.5% per year one of the fastest in the world ( that's 5 million people by the way) it stands to reason you have to increase energy supplies. My father-in-law is 94. He says in all that time there has never been a good government in Brazil. Don't count on us fellers. Oh and by the way the US and EU won't buy Brazilian ethanol anyway for some obscure political reason, probably job protection.

Actually, I almost did bring up the ethanol hoax!
Regardless of it being produced outa' sugar cane, corn or whatever, it's extremely inefficient.
Sugar cane may (perhaps) not be quite as bad as corn is, but it still requires huge areas to be cleared, a repulsive amount of petroleum based fertilizers and mechanical processes to do all the work.

Corn is a complete lie!
It's the worst at efficiency. It takes more oil to produce it, than it saves.
It's being forced upon us by corrupt politicians taking money from the huge agricultural interests!
All of this talk about helping farmers is bunk!
There are few farmers left!
If it truly helped family farmers of whatever latitude, I wouldn't be quite as negative.
How exactly are ConAgra, Cargill and the rest of the multinationals, farmers or even farmer friendly.
The drive the markets for their own advantage, steal age old traditional genetic plant material(ie:seeds), put the actual farmers out of business by hook or by crook, and feed the world crap that can't be called food by any cultural standards!

Although I've always respected Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), he's right there pushing for the interests of corn producers.
It's a filthy business with massive amounts of oil required to plant, fertilize, harvest and transport.
Not to mentions the truly horrifying aspects of all the GM products.
And then we wonder why the bees are dying....
They control all modern plant life on Earth.
It's hard to eat that many ferns and other gymnosperms, because w/o bees...that's all we'll have left!
We knew, back in '98, that GM corn with Bt pesticides not only killed cut worm larvae, but killed Monarch butterfly larvae.
Corn is pollinated by wind...
how in the hell would anyone think that it wouldn't spread everywhere.
Ancient traditional varieties are in danger of genetic corruption.
What happens when some new plague wipes out the commercial varieties.
It's bad enough with the genetic attacks on heirloom crops, but with them now doing hostile takeovers, buyouts and just plain stealing seed stockpiles and other arks of hope, I'm not sure what can be done!

Why are little girls are hitting puberty at nine years old...
Why the increase in breast cancer, along with other types...
Why we're seeing more and more autism along with other diseases that we're told are natural!
Let's just take some more pills to counter act the side effects of the last handful that the pharmaceutical company's and Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, along with all the other paid for doctors tell us are the solution.
BTW...
All soy products are right up there with the rest of the bad products.
They're the most heavily GM'd product out there and a serious contender for a major cancer causing agent among Western women.
This huge push for women to drink soy milk is unconsciable!
If real cow milk hadn't been ruined, it'd be far healthier.
My cows are of an old heritage breed and have been relatively left alone by the big boys.
There's been much talk about the genetic split between so-called modern cows and the old breeds.
Thoughts are that I, and others allergic to milk, can actually drink and digest the milk from certain cow...including my breed.
It all has to do with certain proteins passed on genetically.
Not only are the modern ones so inbred that they can barely walk, they are all descended from just a couple of bulls.
They require huge amounts of grains to produce that huge amount of toxic milk.
The grain eventually kills their livers and they burn out.
Many of them develop subacute acidosis while at the feedlots.
They just aren't built for this level of production or abuse.
The sad thing is...
Our food is already dead!
We just haven't bothered to notice, yet!

Ultimately...
You just might as well use the petroleum as fuel.
(Although it makes for a better lubricant than anything else we've ever had or can currently come up with.)
With all the other damage done by it, at least as a fuel, you're being honest about it!