123 School Work

Rapid urban demographic growth and resource intensive industrialism have become large scale biogeophysical forces on earth

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  Concern about the impacts of human activity on the earth continues as rapid urban-demographic growth and resource-intensive industrialism are becoming large-scale forces and threaten the world's natural resources. This can be exemplified by the alarming rate at which Asia's rain forests are being destroyed. According to an article published in Newsweek, China has become the second largest importer of logs in the world, following the United States (Larmer and Seno, 2003). Domestic consumption is rapidly increasing, as China's middle class purchases new homes and Beijing undertakes extensive civil-construction projects. Due to the devastating floods caused by deforestation in 1998, Beijing banned logging along parts of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, and called for a drastic reduction in other provinces. As a result, China is now producing only half the timber it consumes. This move to avoid domestic ecological disaster has led to the destruction of rain forests in China's neighboring countries such as Siberia and Indonesia much of which is illegal logging.
       Of more concern is the destruction of rain forests of Southeast Asia, whose rich biodiversity are considered the "lungs of the earth" (Larmer and Seno, 2003). In Indonesia, for example, much of the lowland forests are being systematically and illegally destroyed by corrupt military officers, timber barons, and international companies. Because illegal logs are much cheaper than legal logs, timber companies have a huge competitive advantage in export markets for everything from chopsticks to furniture...