Comments on: Global Warming is Here Now

By: Republicans: Party of Fiction at The Liberal Walrus

Republicans: Party of Fiction at The Liberal Walrus — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:57:31 +0000

[...] the Time cover story on climate change, as well as the stories of homeless Inuits, threatened Canadian forests, and unexpectedly fast glacial melting in Greenland. The consequences are all around us, and it is [...]

By: Science and Religion Misused at The Liberal Walrus

Science and Religion Misused at The Liberal Walrus — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:38:49 +0000

[...] I am loving this column so much, and it seems like such a reflection of some previous blog posts of mine, that I encourage you once more to read the original. He deals with global [...]

By: walrus

walrus — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:07:25 +0000

Bill, thanks for reading. I agree with you that mankind is deforesting the planet at an alarming rate, and as I’m sure you know replanting monoculture is a sure way to leave the door open for a disease or parasite to wipe out the whole forest.

I am interested in your comment about the “species specific” nature of the parasite. Can you tell me a little more? I am curious.

By: Bill Lee

Bill Lee — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 21:08:52 +0000

Except that the beetle is species-specific. Pine is a dry-belt wood. Other species don’t have the beetle attack them.
The loggging companies, as in Oregon and the fire felling story the other day, are cutting as much as possible and to a limited extent replanting with monoculture.
So they are cutting first growth forests that they couldn’t get before.
The beetle is going to cross the mountains into the broad belt of northern taiga (see http://www.atlas.gc.ca) and doom Alaska too.

As it is, man is destroying the Amazon, Papua-New Guinea today in NYT, and Borneo island (several countries share it) along with Burmese pirate logging for China’s voracious appetite for woods.