I ought to wait before starting this, but the program I heard on PBS today just pushed my buttons again, and the subject is, in the long view, a lot more important than who runs Iraq or is President of the US. Yeah, it is low on most folks radar screens because it is like the proverbial 'boiling a frog' by raising the temperature of the pot very slowly.....when it DOES get too hot, it's too late!

It seems the Brazilian rainforest is still disappearing at an alarming rate, and the Brazilian govt. seems powerless (or unwilling) to take any action. This is merely the biggest in a set of scenarios all over the globe that have the potential to mess up the planet beyond easy repair. Similar things are happening in Malaysia, Borneo, Africa..etc...and beyond the loss of habitat, potential drug sources, and bio-diversity, it is fairly well demonstrated that rain forests..PARTICULARLY Brazil...affect climate all over the world. Weather in N. Africa is directly tied to rainfall in Brazil, and Brazilian farming & illegal logging is doing in an area the size of Connecticut every year!

If G.W. Bush had invaded Brazil instead of Iraq and told them "stop that!", I might just vote for him...well....maybe..

here is one small article ...I hope to find other relevant articles soon....and maybe there are others who already know of some.

I will be adding to this thread at various times with data, explanations both scientific and simplistic and dire predictions. I'm sure some will pooh-pooh this as another alarmist rant, and I admit that, at 65 now, I 'may' not be around to collect the bets against me...but those in their 50s and below just might wish they had lobbied their government harder someday!

I know that this sort of thing bores many folks on Mudcat, but we (yep....me included!) waste time and space on far less important stuff.

Lee's see what happens.