Question

by Komal
(Washington)

Surviving the pulse of music and the earth - Do you ever feel like the world hides its true power behind politeness? We're breaking the rules to show you how a loud symphony, a smart machine, and a wild forest use the same secret pulse.

Komal's comment: I'm wondering what is considered right or wrong in the tropical rainforest.

Barry's Response - The threats most people see regarding the forests more often than not involve conversion of the forested land to other uses. This strips the native peoples of many of their rights, such as to live in secluded tribes, live off the land in the habitat in which they were raised and conditioned to live, and remain undisturbed and unstressed.

This also strips the ecological habitat of the balance it achieved through evolution over millennia and requires an adjustment period to achieve a new, stable balance.

Examples of anthropogenic conversion include:

• Deforestation for agriculture. Large tracts of forest are cleared so that the soil can be used for producing crops. Problems often originate when one crop species (usually a cash crop) is strongly favoured over a variety of others that hypothetically could contribute to a balanced ecosystem.
• Other problems associated with this kind of activity involve the introduction of foreign pesticides and fertilizers that may also upset native species. It is well known that topsoils in these environments are quite thin...much more than what most people would expect. This leaves the soil vulnerable to quick erosion down to the sand below and nutrient leaching by heavy rains if not protected.
• Mining, drilling - Lands are opened and scarred by this type of economic activity. It this case, deforestation is completed simply because the trees are an obstacle to development.
• Urbanization - drastically changed land use with permanent results. This introduces the greatest variety of new pollutants to the environment and its effects (including demand for wood) may reach further into the forests than any other land-use change.

What's right about these forests? People don't talk about that too much. They would likely say a forest left alone is a forest treated right.

Search this website for more information now.

The Biotic Pump and the Soul of the Forest

The mainstream "save the trees" talk often misses the science. There's a saying that rainforests are "the lungs of the planet." Truth bomb: mature forests actually breathe in almost as much oxygen as they release. The Biotic Pump and Air Quality are more important than CO2 credits if we want to save them.

Pulse Physics - Forests don't just "get" rain; they summon it. These trees absorb moisture from the air through a process called evapotranspiration, creating a low-pressure zone that pulls moisture in from the ocean. The "Biotic Pump" moves water across continents. When you clear-cut a forest for a cash crop, you don't just lose wood; you break the atmospheric engine that waters farms thousands of miles away. Forests emit VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) like isoprene. Clouds are seeded by these tiny particles. If the forest doesn't sweat these chemicals, the clouds simply disappear, leaving the soil to bake.

It's not just the carbon, it's the water

There's a lot of "Green" talk about carbon. Skeptics and environmental scientists say water cycles matter more for local cooling. We can't ignore the fact that stripping the land of its "sweat glands" (trees) creates local heat deserts, even if some argue that global warming is an unstoppable solar cycle. It's not just "climate change" -- it's landscape suicide.

Property rights are often argued by some thinkers, and they're right: when a global corporation owns the land, it's like a bank account. If it's owned by a local family or a secluded tribe, they treat it like a garden. Man was put in the Garden to "dress it and keep it," not to scare it for money.

Having the freedom to think differently

Instead of treating trees like sacred idols, we should treat them like vital infrastructure. If you love the aquatic environment, you should realize that the rainforest is the "headwaters" of the world's humidity. By eroding the topsoil, we choke the rivers with silt, killing the fish that feed the locals. Rather than "don't touch the forest," we need to integrate with the forest. Agroforestry is planting high-value crops like cacao and coffee under the canopy. Native tribes can keep their hunter-gatherer roots while the local economy thrives.

Forests aren't victims, they're warriors. Even warriors need a break.

How do you feel about it?

Is the "Biotic Pump" the missing link in the climate debate, or should we focus on carbon? Let's fight about it in the comments!