Mmm,
When I was a kid there use to be river banks on the Murray that supported River Red Gums. The rabbits burrowed under the roots which undermined the trees.
We trapped and **** the rabbits.
Now in SA, where you could once get a feed of rabbits they are all gone.
Then came the floods; some trees fell into the river which provided habitat for fish but soil erosion made the river shallower.
What was once a Murray Cod "Reach" (A mile of river that was licenced to a professional fisherman) became void of Murray Cod because of siltation, salination, artificially ponding the river by lochs and reduction of flow due to increased irrigation, reduced their numbers.
Where we use to camp along the banks you could find great spots but now those same places seep water that smells like yuck; caused by irrigation of citrus and vines.
There is no longer spiny Crayfish like the ones you get up around the top reaches of the murray.
There is no longer Eel Tail catfish.
To catch a Murray cod would make the local news.
Areas we use to frequent to catch lots of yabbies are now full of dead trees and you can see the salt. There's no yabbies now.
My favourite River Red Gum use to be magnificent. We camped underneath it and enjoyed many a good time. All that remains is the main trunk and a few large branches with growth that looks similar to what happens to trees after a bushfire has passed through.
The foliage that you can see is green but it's a last ditched effort to survive.
The old gum tree that use to be home to a big goanna has become a victim of salination.
The European carp are plentiful and the water colour that was once clear is now turbid.
The Redfin have gone (not a native) and so have the Fresh water mussels.
There's still a few callop to catch and plenty of carp.
The Mallee trees were bulldozed and wheat planted; we use to trap bunnies by the farmers fences that fenced off the wheat.
The winds came and blew the tumble weed up against the fences; then the top soil piled up against the fence. The fences became useless because of the piled up soil so the farmer errected new fences on top of the old.
The farmer went broke because he didn't know the land and how to look after it. He dragged out all the visible boulders of limestone so he could sow the wheat in the remaining soil.
The mounds of rock were enough to build a house.
The wind blew again and the remaining soil vanished. The farmer is now dead and so is the land.
My old Gum Tree that I dearly love is nearly dead and my heart is sad that we are so blind.
Technology is great and we can use it to learn but to ignore the stop sign is taking a chance.
In conclusion, you can agree with Global warming, extinction of animals and destruction of habitat but isn't it better to err on the side of caution?
All of the above is true, I've seen the things I liked as a kid taken from me and that's just in a generation.
I've seen people in Africa chop down trees to make charcoal. I could have made them rich by giving them a chain saw so they could produce more; but if I did the forest would be gone and so would there existence.
Without education and change on a global scale not much can be done.
But leading by example is one of the first principles of leadership. If everyone helps out just a bit we can live with technology, fast cars, computers and also live in harmony with nature.
It's called sustainability. Plenty of money won't enable a mass population to grow food. And if we don't have water our head gaskets will blow. Clean air, clean water, good quality soil is what we should be leaving for our kids to inherit but what do we do?
We Destroy. To destroy habitat in a closed system is like putting a plastic bag tightly around your neck; you'll breathe for awhile but in the end you'll want to get fresh air.
The only problem is that we have no where else to go; no where else to habitat.
You may not be affected now but guess what?
