From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Subject: Re: Rainforests and McDonalds
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 15:25:49 GMT

Rich Young writes:

> . . .
>	Now, how many acres of land do you suppose it takes to produce less
>	than a pound of beef?  According to John Robbins in "Diet for a New
>	America", it takes one (1) acre to grow 165 pounds of beef.  If we
>	assume that this number holds for Central and South America, that
>	comes to less than 1.46 million acres and dropping.  Note, however,
>	that new land is not required every year, so the actual rate of
>	clearing would be much less, perhaps 20 to 30 percent, or roughly
>	350,000 acres [cleared rainforest is good for 3-5 years before
>	being depleted]...and, of course, this has all assumed that every
>	last morsel of imported Central and South American beef came from
>	cleared rain forest, when, in fact, much of it comes from the
>	pampas of Argentina.

>	This is not a particularly large number and it's dropping, so in the
>	relatively near future it'll be a moot point, won't it? 

Let us grant the validity of your very rough calculations and
the applicability of its assumptions (a direct measure instead of
an inferred calculation would have been better).

Now, we should not forget that even APPARENTLY SMALL impacts can
have big and grave consequences, especially when we consider
the AGGREGATE result of those impacts over TIME.  Consider
the following statement by Jeremy Rifkin in "BEYOND BEEF,
1992": [omitted are Rifkin's original sources that do substantiate his claims]
 
     Since 1960 more than 26 percent of the forests of
     Central America have been cleared to create pastureland
     for grazing cattle.  by the 1970's two-thirds of all
     the agricultural land in Central America was taken up
     by cattle and other livestock, most of it destined for
     export to North America.  While American consumers
     saved, on the average, close to a nickel on every
     hamburger imported from Central America, the cost to
     the native environment was over-whelming and
     irreversible.  Each imported hamburger required the
     clearing of 6 square yards of jungle for pasture.  "The
     innocent-looking beef cow," says Joseph Tosi, "is at
     the center of a destructive ecological cycle that is
     strangling Central America."  In 1979 the United States
     was importing 110 thousands of tons of beef from the
     Central American countries.  By 1990, Central American
     beef exports to the United States had declined to
     48,000 tons per year.  Still, cattle grazing continues
     to play a major role in deforestation throughout
     Central America.  [p. 192]
     
Indeed, as one ecologists has said about what might be the
three most destructive devices to the environment in recent
times, they have been "CARS, CHAINSAWS AND COWS".
     
We also have to somehow better recognized not only the
prodigious QUANTITY of what is being destroyed, but also the
irreplaceable QUALITY of what can never be replaced.  Rifkin
observes that nearly 1/4 of all medication and
pharmaceuticals have been derived from tropical plants and
that some 70% of plants identified by the National Cancer
Institute as possessing an important anticancer property
have come from the rainforests.
 
We are talking about the richest and most complex biomass on
the planet.  According to one report by the National Academy
of Sciences, as many as 1,500 species of flowering plants,
750 species of trees, 125 mammal species, 400 species of
birds, 100 species of reptiles, 60 species of amphibians,
150 species of butterflies, etc., are to be found in a mere
4-square-mile section of rain forest!  In a 300-square-mile
area there can sometimes be found over 500 different species
of birds alone, which is 4 times the number of birds species
found in all of eastern North America.  There may be some
15,000 plant species still undiscovered in the tropical rain
forests, some of these plants being limited to a single
mountain.  Perhaps a fifth of all life on earth can be found
in the rain forests of Latin America.
 
Mexico and Central America used to be covered by about
160,000 square miles of rain forests.  This now has been
reduced to less than 50,000 square miles, the main culprit
being clear-cutting and burning to make room for cattle
ranges.  At present trends, this remaining forest will be
lost within the next 25 years.  Permit me to end with the
words of Jeremy Rifkin again,
 
     Each of us bears some measure of responsibility for the
     loss of the world's ancient rain forests.  For example,
     it is estimated that for every quarter-pound hamburger
     that comes from a steer raised in Central and South
     America, it is necessary to destroy approximately 75
     kilograms (165 pounds) of living matter "including some
     of twenty to thirty different plant species, perhaps
     one hundred insect species, and dozens of bird, mammal,
     and reptiles species".
 
Yes indeed, seemingly small impacts can have large
consequences.  It is now a matter of conscience that we all
attempt to REDUCE our impact upon the environment, and one
of the simplest and most effect measures that any single
individual can take is to simply become a vegetarian.
 
Let it also be said that another important measure that we
all should give more than a mere nod of fleeting assent is
that of NOT having more than two children as responsible
parents (each North American consumes the equivalent of what
20 East Indians consume and in a mere 6 months we over-
indulgent North Americans consume the equivalent of energy
resources and metals that an East Indian would consume in a
life-time!).  A vegetarian and *reduce, reuse and recycle*
life style will certainly help and is not to be dismissed
as unimportant, but the ultimate solution certainly must
also include human population control (even a pop.
reduction would be desirable).
 
                                   ted
 

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