This gives rise to the obvious concern that if the trees are cut down the habitats or homes will be lost and the species that live in them will die. Indeed, in 1996 the World Wildlife Fund, at a media conference in Geneva, announced that 50,000 species are going extinct each year due to human activity. And the main cause of these 50,000 extinctions, they said, is commercial logging. The story was carried around the world by Associated Press and other media and hundreds of millions of people came to believe that forestry is the main cause of species extinction.
During the past three years I have asked the World Wildlife Fund on many occasions to please provide me with a list of some of the species that have supposedly become extinct due to logging. They have not offered up a single example as evidence. In fact, to the best of our scientific knowledge, no species has become extinct in North America due to forestry.
Where are these 50,000 species that are said to be going extinct each year? They are in a computer model in Edward O. Wilson’s laboratory at Harvard University. They are electrons on a hard drive, they have no Latin names, and they are in no way related to any direct field observations in any forest.
From Trees are the Answer
The interesting thing about this quote is that it comes from one of the founders of the environmentalist group GreenPeace. No, he’s not there anymore but Patrick Moore is now leading a group called Greenspirit.
Read the whole article here.
Growing up in Squamish, BC, my family was dependent on the forestry sector. We weren’t loggers or mill workers but my dad ran a retail store. When the mills were on strike or logging roads were being protested, we felt the financial pain. I lost all respect for those who came out of Hollywood to protect the elusive spotted owl.
Of course, I was young then, what did I know?
Well, I knew that protesters putting spikes into trees that would potentially kill a logger wasn’t the way to get your point across. Looking like a slob and chaining yourself to another slob isn’t the way to show credibility. Now, I can rest at peace knowing that when I was 14 I was smart enough to doubt the loud mouth with the banner.
Hat tip to commenter Ron Franzmann at SDA.
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