Redwood Reader

Five articles about logging in AFP/Yahoo today, starting with another mountain collapse from deforestation, in the Philippines again The next article covers farmers invading burnt forest land faster than the government can control. The landslide potential is enormous, the loss of tropical forest harsh for water and air quality, the lifestyle marginal. The third article tells of the huge Asian market for tropical woods and the immense trade in illegal timber. Then after a discussion of Vietnams situation the fourth article again explains the worthlessness of timber tagged sustainable. In the fifth article, we may perhaps see a glimmer of hope that some companies are willing to cooperate in establishing guidelines in the Third World. I could end this with links to the several articles about Greenland’s glaciers melting at an accelerated rate, as a cause and effect item, or continued drought in southwestern Europe and East Africa. As far as the Greenland articles go, they are concerned with rising sea levels. Nature this week has an article about higher delivery of fresh water from rivers than previously recorded. I believe this would be from glomalin destruction from land use shrinking the soils capacity to retain precipitation. Taken together we could be seeing a change in salinity and circulation in the ocean, which could conceivably bring about the kind of climate event that changes the course of history.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060217/wl_asia_afp/philippineslandslide_060217222927Landslide engulfs Philippine village, up to 1,700 feared dead
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060217/sc_afp/environmenttimber_060217162619;_ylt=AgQs.m7xzXly7ETS7XwF2dbPOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--Forest destruction leaves Indonesian farmers facing landslide risk
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060217/sc_afp/environmenttimbertrade_060217173245;_ylt=ApauQBT.VIx2igXlLv8SDbXPOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
Saving tropical forests: will Europe's "Jack" fell Asia's "giant"?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060217/sc_afp/environmenttimbervietnam_060217172654;_ylt=Anw30n_TrdEkhXl1rmCVdbTPOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--Timber industry looks farther afield after ravaging Vietnam
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060217/sc_afp/environmenttimber_060217172925;_ylt=Ai.Mv1jrr.JyjnYrRZ_W9AjPOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
China out to polish woodwork in Central Africa