 |
TODAY Wednesday 30 April 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
newsroom
|
TODAY Wednesday 30 April 1997 Each weekday. Conn Nugent on what's new in the world, on the site. |
TODAY IN THE WORLD: Pity the Mangrove
Pity the mangrove. More than 50% of the great mangrove forests of tropical shores are now gone. They disappear at a rate faster than rainforests, says a report in Greenwire.
This is doubly lamentable, for mangroves are rich in the number of species they shelter and valuable as buffers to tropical storms. The thickly woven branches, the tangled roots half-in, half-out of the water -- mangroves are unmistakable. It is the mangrove, not the palm tree, that is the real symbol of tropical ecosystems.
Their accelerated loss is attributed to a variety of forces. The wood of the mangrove tree is no good for board-feet, but it burns well enough for charcoal and is easily ground up for chipboard. Polluted waters destroy mangrove root systems. And a new threat comes from the sharp increase in shrimp farms sprouting over the Asian tropical coastlines.
The last two oft-cited mangrove-depleting forces are the spread of human settlements and tourism. The tourism factor is interesting, I think, because it highlights an unpleasant truth we enviros don't much like to recognize: people don't necessarily like the looks of biodiversity. An ancient forest in the Pacific Northwest is generally regarded as beautiful, but teeming swamps and mangroves have far fewer aesthetic appreciators. They don't tower, or stretch out to the horizon. They smell bad at times and tend to breed mosquitoes.
People often like the look of bio-deprivation. The great forests which once covered the British Isles were incomparably more diverse than today's British rural landscape, which is a fact of no apparent importance to the busloads of tourists come to admire the biological deserts of the Cotswolds. A cornfield is impoverished compared to a natural prairie, but the stalks look great as they bow in the summer breeze.
"A face only a mother could love," we say about the homely child. Over the last twenty years, a popular aesthetic has emerged which appreciates the beauty of rainforests (previously known as jungles). Maybe we can work on expanding that achievement, cultivating our maternal sensibilities so that twenty years from now natural messiness is highly esteemed and the funky mangrove is as valued as the redwood. Almost.
TODAY ON THE SITE
It's been two weeks now since our debut, and we think all the bugs are out. Please do let us know if you find mistakes or malfunctions.
Readers of our Hypermaterialism section will be interested to know that Seth Zuckerman is now researching the second of our household objects held up to ultra-close scrutiny. Next in line: your refrigerator. If you haven't seen it yet, by the way, do check out Seth's inaugural effort on coffee.
4/29: Grizzlies off Battery Park
4/28: Mighty Monsanto
4/25: Growth
4/24: Refrigerator Wars
4/23: The Day the Earth Day Stood Still
4/22: Doorman Ecology
4/21: Toyota Steps Out
4/18: Victims of Extremism
4/17: Our White Guy Problem
4/16: Coca-Cola and the Merrit Parkway