Not so. Take subsidies paid to the fishing industry: "...governments subsidize the destruction of oceanic resources to the tune of $15-30 billion each year. In 2001, subsidies paid to the fishing industry in Japan reached $2.5 billion, equal in value to a quarter of the catch. U.S. fishing subsidies totaled $1.2 billion, exceeding the worth of 30 percent of the U.S. catch.... A global network of marine reserves protecting up to 30 percent of the world's oceans would cost around $13 billion - far less than the subsidies that currently promote overfishing. Such a network would also create some 1 million new jobs and bolster the number of fish that can be caught in nearby waters." (reference, emphases mine)
Also consider ecosystem services - the economic benefits provided by a healthy environment, like flood control, water filtration, and CO2 absorption. A 1997 paper in Nature (see also here) concluded "For the entire biosphere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16-54 trillion (1012) per year, with an average of US$33 trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, this must be considered a minimum estimate." An estimate of the value of Canada's boreal forests put the value of their ecosystem services at $93 billion a year, 9% of Canada's GDP.
Environmentalists just want more government restrictions on freedom.
Whose freedom?
Your freedom to drink clean water and breathe clean air, or the freedom of multinational corporations to pollute? Whose rights will be affected if, say, the oceans run out of fish?
There is more forest in the USA now than there was 100 years ago!
This is true. But is it healthy forest?
There is more forest now because most of the continent was deforested in the 19th century. Before European settlers arrived, there were more than a billion acres of forest in the US (including Alaska). Now there are about 750 million acres, young, fragmented, and radically changed from the pre - European condition: 10% of the 800 tree species in the USA are non native species.
The latest data ("Forest Resources of the United States, 2002") says that about 56 million acres of that are tree plantations - not natural forests but large stands of particular trees that offer a profit but poor habitat. Another 504 million acres are classified as timberland - land that could produce timber - and is occasionally logged for that purpose. In addition, forests are fragmented by roads and urban and suburban sprawl. This is one reason for the rapid decline in the population of the Cerulean Warbler and other species which require large tracts of undisturbed forest.
As economy and population booms, these pressures will increase. "In the last decade, the South lost 2.9 million acres to sprawl while another 4.5 million acres of native forest were replaced with fast growing pine plantations. In addition, logging is predicted to increase across the South by 50% by the year 2040 with a loss of as much as 31 million acres of forested land." (reference)
Polar bear populations are actually growing, so melting ice from global warming isn't a threat.
Polar bear populations are increasing. This is mainly due to a global ban on hunting in the 1970's. Since that time polar bear population has increased from 5,000 worldwide to 20,000 or so.
But the polar bears are showing considerable signs of stress. "Polar bears in western Hudson Bay weigh about 15 percent less (about 150 pounds less for an adult male) than they did 30 years ago." (reference) The Hudson Bay bear population is dropping, with documented decline in reproductive rates and survival of offspring.
And it's not just in Hudson Bay: Polar bears in Alaska are drowning, probably because the melting ice means they have to swim longer distances. (reference) Polar bears are also endangered by pollution, especially around Norway and Russia. (reference)
I encourage everyone to check out both sides of the argument. There are a lot of reasons for Malaria's persistence: Poverty, corruption, misuse of ddt and other pesticides, etc.
by
William Wilson (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 2:55:32 PM
About the myth that saving the environment is too expensive
Jared Diamond completely dismantles this myth in his book Collapse.He points out that people who say this have the truth completely backwards. For instant he points out that the clean air act enacted in 1970 although its cleanup measures do cost money, yielded an estimated net health saving (benefits in excess of costs) of around 1 trillion dollars per year, due to saved lives and reduced health costs.
by
007s bretta (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments)
on Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 9:35:03 AM
In alot of pain, will be short for now. We were massively poisoned by agent trichothecene (Roridin A) , agent of biowarfare produced by toxic mold/fungi. Miltary knows it as Yellow Rain..killed 10's of 1000's in Laos, etc. We had to abandon our possessions as well.
So many more suffer. Agencies don't protect us, and much of medical will not help us. Liable Insurers (Grange Mutual lets us die). Our story aired on WJBF TV..the public health concern so big they aired it 4 days and put video up. You can still access if you go to www.wjbf.com and do a site search with the word mold. Mold And Your health should appear and please send comments thanking WJBF.
Our story also in march issue of E-Magazine. You can read profile. many things going on in DC now. I need support and also more media and contacts. Happy to do interviews. Will we live? god only knows, but cannot sit here and watch little children or our veterans suffer as we have.
You can also see photos of outward injury and a synopsis on http://www.myspace.com/faceoftoxicmold If you can help support our efforts, thanks. I'm trying but hurt really bad.
Iris
by
iris harden (8 articles, 7 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 17 comments)
on Monday, March 5, 2007 at 1:26:44 AM
4 comments
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