Letters to the Editor
Dear editor,
A fully grown tree releases 1,000 liters of water vapor a day into the atmosphere. A forest can send up billions of liters of water vapor into the atmosphere daily.
What happens when forests are cut down?
No more water vapor. No more clouds. No more rain. Drought. A changed climate.
Water-filled clouds are flying rivers that travel vast distances.
Additionally, cutting down forests releases stored carbon dioxide which traps heat and compounds atmospheric warming. This compounds the problem of no rain.
All of this is happening in places like California and Brazil because there was no planning involved.
Pleading ignorance is not an excuse. Science and following avenues of common sense lead us to the conclusion that we are at a tipping point!
Future successful development will rely on eco-tourism that happens to be the fastest growing segment in tourism. The millennials are the fastest-growing demographic and they are looking for meaningful change.
That's why we had Occupy Wall Street. Bernie Sanders. Smarter food options. The millenials are interested in tiny houses. They are interested in water-recycling systems and solar power solutions. They are interested in back-packing, kayaking, hiking and sucking clean air into their lungs.
We can not allow short-sighted leaders sell out our strategic reserves! Forests in the USA are being plundered for export to foreign countries. Such exports include enterprises like paper pulp factories and wood-fuel pellets. We don't want to walk around with masks on our faces. We want to see the sun. We need rain!
The gold-mine era, that set California off to it's lack-of-foresight development model, have been bad for the planet and bad for the people. We can and should do things differently in 2016.
At the end of the day, It all begins with the forests, and how it ends, depends on how much forest we keep. Our forests are our strategic reserve! The real costs of not keeping the forests are not even quantifiable.
Susan Pang
Richmond Heights, Missouri
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