Changing the covers

In plain terms, tropical deforestation is an absolute disaster.

Droughts and extreme weather are often the result of tropical deforestation, not global warming.

Those who have made up their minds may say common sense may be of no use. Yet our world’s tropical rainforests have shrunk 60%, from 8.0 million square miles to less than 3.0 million, and our deserts have grown from 3.0 million square miles to 5.0 million, and over 10 million square miles of farmland is now conducting heat as never before due to lowered water tables. Elsewhere, another 7.0 million square miles of temperate and boreal forests have been lost. Altogether, we have altered nearly 50% of the land surface of our planet in the last 150 years – and all of these changes have made those lands hotter. And yes, there are also .5 million square miles of very, very hot urban heat islands.

Before we lose another million square miles of tropical rainforest to the biofuel barons – burning away in the name of “CO2 neutral” energy production – perhaps we should take a much, much harder look at the ”biophysical effects of land-cover change.”

Deforestation & Global Warming


Update:
growabrain sends:

‘Protected’ Congo forest is logged regardless
The world’s second largest forest is being traded away for a few bars of soap and bottles of beer…