bole

I sat on my  deck, enjoying the evening. Birds chirped and fluttered around the birdfeeder in the backyard. Finches clung to a bag of thistle hanging on a tree branch, only ten feet from me. They’d grown used to my presence and no longer flew away, when I stepped out for fresh air. I sat and watched them pull the thistle through the tiny openings in the fabric. Their feathers, red, purple and yellow, pleased my eye.

From a distant tree, I heard the song of a cardinal: purdy, purdy, purdy. The song changed. It was a starling. Next, it was a version of the robin’s evening song. A little later it was a song I couldn’t identify.

It was a mocking bird. For more than thirty minutes, he sang through his repertoire of songs. He was loud; his singing perfect. He didn’t have a song of his own. He mocked the songs of other birds, pieced them together, and created a concert for my enjoyment.

I was reminded of “American Idol,” a show my stepdaughter, Heather, has me addicted to. Hopeful singers competed against each other, singing the songs of others, judged by a panel of three, now four. The top contestants went to Hollywood, where they competed against others. Each week they were faced with new challenges. One-by-one they were eliminated until a winner was chosen.

A carpenter built a house. He used skills, learned as a young man, to construct a basic house. Over time, the carpenter learned more. He added his personal touch to his work. He took the basics he learned from those before him and made it a creation of his own.

The mocking bird, the winner of “American Idol,” and the carpenter have a common link. They took the ideas of others, copied and learned from them. They added to what they learned and created their own works of art.

We don’t have to be original. We start with the building blocks placed in our path by those before us. We have a choice: we can continue to copy, or we can add our own blocks for the next to follow and learn from.

I have to run. I think I hear my mocking bird outside. I want to hear what he has created for my enjoyment today.

Don’t go anywhere without your cloth bag so you can just say no to plastic whenever you shop.

Radical as it may seem, in today’s “the easier the better” society, the easiest way to reduce your carbon footprint is by avoiding driving altogether. Power down and Instead try biking, walking, carpooling, public transport or an occasional telecommute.

If you have no other choice than to drive to work, look for the most fuel- efficient car model for your next purchase and keep your tyres inflated to the correct pressure.

If you’re one of the lucky few blessed with clear stretches of road on your way to work, use cruise control, as it saves fuel and also helps you maintain a constant speed.

If you’re among the majority of drivers who spend their mornings stuck in traffic, consider turning your engine off if you will be idling for long periods of time. And plant a tree.

For those who suffer from road rage, remember that aggressive driving lowers your mileage, so if you want to save on fuel and save the planet while you’re at it, accelerate gradually– something to keep that in mind the next time that bad driver cuts you off! Just count to 10 and say the planet needs me!

Now in some places of our country, a number of people have been cutting down the trees in the forests because they need wood and more farmland. The areas of forests are getting smaller and smaller. Some scientists say that there will be no vast forests in 20 or 30 years. It is really a terrible thing. Where the forests disappear, dust storms will occur occasionally. The weather will get hot and dry. The whole earth will become a big desert. A lot of plants and animals will disappear.Crops will not grow anywhere. Life will be difficult for everyone. The human beings will be punished for their forest-destroying activities.
     Therefore, we should realize the importance of taking care of our forests. We should do our best to protect our living environment and keep our mountains green,the water clean, and the sky blue.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) defines biodiversity as “the wealth of life on Earth, the millions of plants, animals, and micro-organisms, the gens they contain and the intricate ecosystems they build into the living enviroment.” Rainforest are one of the most biologically diverse regions of the world. Over a millions species of plants and animals are known to live in the forests and millions more are not classified. The unique enviroment of the rainforest allows for such biodiversity to exist.

The process of deforestation in various geographical regions is destroying this unique enviroment. Consequently, many animals and plants that live in the rainforests face the specter of extinction. The extinction of the plants and animals leads to diminished gene pool. The lack of biodiversity and a reduced planetary gene pool could have many unforeseen ramifications, some of which could be fatal to the future of humanity. In addition, there are ethical, aesthetic and philosophical question regarding mankind’s responsibility for other life. This issue concerns more industrialized countries in the North more than it concerns lesser developed countries in the South. This is especially true in developing countries such as Brazil. I will elaborate on that later.

Another isssue that probably concerns the North more that the South is the advancement of humanity. As the planetary gene pool continues to diminish, there are less oppertunities for advancements in many fields. In particular, medicine may benefit from the cultivation of certain plants that grow only in rainforests. The medicines that come from them could cure cancer, AIDS, or other terminal deseases. Of course, that claim can easily be dismissed as speculative, given that there is little or no evidence to support it. However, it is too early to dismiss the possibility. Furthermore, if the rainforests are completely destroyed, the oppertunity to explore that possibility would be lost forever. The effect that would have on future generations is incalculable. Preserving the rainforest would leave many oppertunities in medicine and many other fields open for future generations to explore and further advance humanity.

There is at least on issue that would concern both North and South equally. That is preservation and is compatibility with forest use and management. Different people have different uses of rainforests. Indigenous people who live in the forests, as well as the non-indigenous people who live in the forests, the forest is their home, source of food, shelter, nourishment, recreation, culture, and livelihood. The forest provides the materials for thier homes, wood for their fires, the fish, the edible plants, and many more neccessities as well as amenities. Some of the non-indigenous people sell some of the forest resources for money. They do not exploit the forest because they sell commodities in limited numbers to preserve the forest resources for the future. This ensures that they can continue to make thier livelihoods by selling products from the forest.