Terrible news about the Amazon

Has everyone heard the news about the Amazon? It will be on TV tonight and in all the papers tomorrow.

The 2005 drought was supposed to be a 'once in 100 years' event and now it appears 2010 was worse. Many of the rivers dried up and million of trees died which are now rotting and giving off CO2. When I was at school we were taught that the Amazon rain forest was 'the lungs of the world'. Now it's a shadow of its former self.

Add this terrible news to the price of oil (just gone over $100/barrel) and the rocketing bulk food prices and it looks like we have big problems. We all need to be thinking about what we can do if the s*** hits the fan.

Best wishes,

John Russell

the user comment at the bottom probably sums up my feelings pretty well

'So, when in two years the Amazon has returned to nominal, if not optimal conditions, will Scientific American produce a follow-up article stating as much? No.

By that time this magazine will have produced 150 to 300 more articles predicting the demise of just about everything else. And no one will have remembered this story. '

the user comment at the bottom probably sums up my feelings pretty well

 

'So, when in two years the Amazon has returned to nominal, if not optimal conditions, will Scientific American produce a follow-up article stating as much? No.

 

By that time this magazine will have produced 150 to 300 more articles predicting the demise of just about everything else. And no one will have remembered this story. '

I hope you're right, Steve. However, there's not much evidence that commenter has on which to base such a ridiculous comment. I would have thought everyone knows that mature trees don't grow back in two years.

2010 and the start of 2011 has been characterised by a significant number of extreme weather events spread across the globe. While any one on its own is not statistically significant, the whole lot when taken together suggests a high probability of climate change. I don't think anyone can deny that, though I'm sure many will.

I'm sure the Amazon is incredibly important to the earth in ways we don't even understand yet.

BUT, I feel it very important that when we discuss these thing that we stick to the facts. My understanding is that 98% of the earths oxygen is produced by algae in the sea, so the Amazon cannot be described as "the lungs of the earth".

I would have thought everyone knows that mature trees don't grow back in two years.

 

of course, but whats 2 years in the grand scheme of things?

this stuff has been going on for millions of years. people are just panicking about it now because we have started recording such things

of course, but whats 2 years in the grand scheme of things?

 

this stuff has been going on for millions of years. people are just panicking about it now because we have started recording such things

I totally agree!!

I feel we are like a lot of ants on the bonnet of a car, we have been here for a couple of hours, its got to 8 am and the engine of the car has just started and we think we have caused the engine to start, but what we don't know is that the engine starts this time every day.

Amazon...what we call Rainforest.

Rainforests cover a whopping 3% of the land mass on the planet.....an estimated (conservative estimate at that )...an estimated 50% of the species on this planet rely on the rainforest for their survival.....Go figure .

I read a while back the rain forrest's produce more methene due to plant material breaking down than the benifits of what they produce in oxygen,there real key is they protect the planet in obsorbing direct sun light along the equator line,man kind then plant's forest's in areas that were traditionaly ice sheets,so the ice melts and new forests create a new climate and instead of ice deflecting heat ,either way human kind has changed the out come of any importance they hold!

When I read the title my heart dropped......... I thought that Amazon had gone bust and I'd never see the book I just ordered ..... can you please take more care with the titles of a topics

Amazon...what we call Rainforest.

Rainforests cover a whopping 3% of the land mass on the planet.....an estimated (conservative estimate at that )...an estimated 50% of the species on this planet rely on the rainforest for their survival.....Go figure .

I'm sorry if it offends those who have made up their minds on the matter, but the evidence is accumulating and I for one cannot ignore it. It looks like Richard Black the BBC's environment correspondent is concerned too. As are a large number of the world's scientists. And here's a few more.

Now persuade me I'm wrong by providing links to your evidence that what's happening in the Amazon and elsewhere is not a disaster that the fossil-fuel burning activities of humans are making worse.