I don't want to sound pessimistic, or cast aspersions on an ethnic group, but my son works in east Asia and says that in terms of the mindset there we can forget about preserving endangered species so long as one person with enough money believes the last living individual will convey some traditional benefit that he (paternalistic societies here) wants. That is a very sad commentary about Homo sapiens sapiens. Randy On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 7:47 PM, lou jost <loujost@yahoo.com> wrote: > The most disturbing thing about the Amazon basin is its climatic > instability. Recent studies suggest that if mean temperature goes up just a > little, or precipitation declines, the climate will pass a threshold and > the forest will revert permanently to savannah, with no hope of returning > forest. Because deforestation increases temp and decreases rainfall, the > area is headed towards this threshold at an ever-accelerating rate. The > future does not look good. > Lou > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > -- * * A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right. - Thomas Paine --- * *