I recommend that folks check out E.O. Wilson's book "Half Earth" (sorry, don't know how to put italics in this comment). Written in 2016 right before Trump was elected, he puts out a plan to put aside half of the planets' land in order to protect and replenish the planetary ecosystems as a necessary prerequisite for our own survival. It is an ambitious plan, but he makes a compelling case for setting aside places like the Amazon forest as evolutionary "hot spots," i.e. places that are ecologically orders of magnitude more diverse and vulnerable than other more disturbed areas of the planet and necessary to protect the processes of life including our own.
Isn't it possible to just let things fall apart and nature will reconstruct itself and we'll get through that bottleneck through the miracle of genetic engineering? Well, of course: nature has bounced back from the elimination of 95% of living species before, as well as much less dramatic shocks to the system like the asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula, wiping out the mega-dinosaurs. Remember, though, that these recoveries have taken millions, not thousands of years. EO Wilson is pretty compelling when he says: forget about humanity surviving the current transition described as the Anthropocene unless we shield much more of the planet's ecosystems than we are currently attempting in order to help the diversity of life through our self induced biological bottleneck. And as far as genetic engineering, I'd give better than even odds that this technology will hasten our demise as a dominant species, not extend it, as we'll weaponize it just as we've done with every other technology we've developed.
To get back to the point, Wilson's pre-Trump book makes a compelling argument for a plan well worth studying and adopting, and gives an eloquent context for why Bolsonaro is such a threat.
This is so hard to read. Thanks for bringing it to our attention - I admit, news about the Amazon's destruction is so debilitatingly sad and hopeless to me that I usually try not to read or think about it. But your reminder at the end of this piece was important - if we don't know, we won't care, and we won't be able to make a change. I guess the hard thing for me is feeling extra powerless about pressuring a Trump-like president of a totally different country. At least in the US I feel like I can try to pressure our leaders. But thanks for this article and context - it's so helpful!
o; a straight-out donation of $1 billion would be succumbing to extortion. But $1 billion for a CCC type program in which teams of American homeless and jobless and Brazilian homeless and jobless able bodied and mentally healthy folks could plant trees and vegetables on the deforested land. Also, I’d like to see millions spent in both countries to develop more delicious meat substitutes and feed them to the tree planters to move away from raising cattle in Brazil – and here too for that matter. I have to wonder how Bolsonaro would react to this kind of offer.
Seems like something one of our pandemic-enabled billionaires could step up to? Why should the rest of us get zero out of their profiteering. Otherwise? I'm here in Texas cozying up to my stash of prepare-for-no-electricity items, i.e., Coleman stove, clean out freezer food ahead of time to try to avoid more losses, flashlight batteries OK, monthly calendered 'PowerUp!' to remind myself to power up my gadgets -- SO, I'm in a pretty hostile mood right now and congratulate Fish on doing what might be the only sensible thing to do... Great article, though. Thank you for keeping on.
$1b is CHEAP to make headway on deforestation in the Amazon. Let’s not toss this offer aside. Let’s amp it up: $10b IF we get to write the rules so that we actually
- prevent deforestation
- support efforts to regenerate and heal the damage of past deforestation in the Amazon, the Chaco, and the Cerrado, led by the indigenous peoples that live there.
Let’s make Bolsonaro an offer he can’t refuse! The Amazon is critical to our future. At $100b, it would still be worth it!
I recommend that folks check out E.O. Wilson's book "Half Earth" (sorry, don't know how to put italics in this comment). Written in 2016 right before Trump was elected, he puts out a plan to put aside half of the planets' land in order to protect and replenish the planetary ecosystems as a necessary prerequisite for our own survival. It is an ambitious plan, but he makes a compelling case for setting aside places like the Amazon forest as evolutionary "hot spots," i.e. places that are ecologically orders of magnitude more diverse and vulnerable than other more disturbed areas of the planet and necessary to protect the processes of life including our own.
Isn't it possible to just let things fall apart and nature will reconstruct itself and we'll get through that bottleneck through the miracle of genetic engineering? Well, of course: nature has bounced back from the elimination of 95% of living species before, as well as much less dramatic shocks to the system like the asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula, wiping out the mega-dinosaurs. Remember, though, that these recoveries have taken millions, not thousands of years. EO Wilson is pretty compelling when he says: forget about humanity surviving the current transition described as the Anthropocene unless we shield much more of the planet's ecosystems than we are currently attempting in order to help the diversity of life through our self induced biological bottleneck. And as far as genetic engineering, I'd give better than even odds that this technology will hasten our demise as a dominant species, not extend it, as we'll weaponize it just as we've done with every other technology we've developed.
To get back to the point, Wilson's pre-Trump book makes a compelling argument for a plan well worth studying and adopting, and gives an eloquent context for why Bolsonaro is such a threat.
This is so hard to read. Thanks for bringing it to our attention - I admit, news about the Amazon's destruction is so debilitatingly sad and hopeless to me that I usually try not to read or think about it. But your reminder at the end of this piece was important - if we don't know, we won't care, and we won't be able to make a change. I guess the hard thing for me is feeling extra powerless about pressuring a Trump-like president of a totally different country. At least in the US I feel like I can try to pressure our leaders. But thanks for this article and context - it's so helpful!
Jair Bolsonaro is an awful man. I hope one day he and Donald Trump both end up in jail where they deserve to be.
o; a straight-out donation of $1 billion would be succumbing to extortion. But $1 billion for a CCC type program in which teams of American homeless and jobless and Brazilian homeless and jobless able bodied and mentally healthy folks could plant trees and vegetables on the deforested land. Also, I’d like to see millions spent in both countries to develop more delicious meat substitutes and feed them to the tree planters to move away from raising cattle in Brazil – and here too for that matter. I have to wonder how Bolsonaro would react to this kind of offer.
Seems like something one of our pandemic-enabled billionaires could step up to? Why should the rest of us get zero out of their profiteering. Otherwise? I'm here in Texas cozying up to my stash of prepare-for-no-electricity items, i.e., Coleman stove, clean out freezer food ahead of time to try to avoid more losses, flashlight batteries OK, monthly calendered 'PowerUp!' to remind myself to power up my gadgets -- SO, I'm in a pretty hostile mood right now and congratulate Fish on doing what might be the only sensible thing to do... Great article, though. Thank you for keeping on.
$1b is CHEAP to make headway on deforestation in the Amazon. Let’s not toss this offer aside. Let’s amp it up: $10b IF we get to write the rules so that we actually
- prevent deforestation
- support efforts to regenerate and heal the damage of past deforestation in the Amazon, the Chaco, and the Cerrado, led by the indigenous peoples that live there.
Let’s make Bolsonaro an offer he can’t refuse! The Amazon is critical to our future. At $100b, it would still be worth it!