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Dcccmber
1970
spontaneora chemical rhange,
but a
long and complicated process requiring
many steps by many diffcrent organisms.
Here earthworms help in the making
of soil. But earthworms alone cannot do
the job. Fungi play an important part
too. In sorne areas the weight of fungi
alone is equal to the combined weight
of all other soil life!
An ounce of soil may have
2
miles of
fungus strands. These fungi are princi–
pal agents in reducing litter to humus.
They can decompose nearly anything
bacteria
can't.
And in
turn,
fungi
become food for bacteria, which sorne–
times eat
100
to
1000
times their own
body weight per day!
Dealing with the Cause
These basic principies of forest
ecology are often
dearly knotuti and
1111derstood,
but seldom practiced and
implemented.
Is there something which causes man
to fail miserably in applying long-range
principies which guarantee luxuriant
forests - and all the blessings that
accrue from it?
"Fall in with the ways of Nature and
prosper; fall out with them and
disa.ster
i.r inevitable,"
said a world-known for–
estry expert.
Could the answer
retdly
be so simple
as this? And if so, why hasn't man
learned this lesson yet? Experts know
that for ultimate success, man must get
in harmony with the ways of nature.
But why doesn't he?
Just what is there in human nature
that seemingly prevents man from
going the right way, even when he
KNOWS
what the right way is?
The answer involves characteristics of
h11man 11atttt'e.
Basic greed, lust, selfishness, vanity,
and desire for profits are what causes
man to destroy the natural resources on
earth. "l'll get mine while the getting is
good" is often the attitude.
Man has reduced wide areas of the
world's virgin forests to a jumble of
thickets and impoverished land. In
North America, man alone has been
responsible for destroying the forest -
more than
all
other forces combined.
lnjudicious tampering has been the
rule.
When will we learn ?
The PLAIN
TRUTH
Is it not tragic that man must
learn conservation
t/fler
destruction and
denudation? Obviously,
experienre
is
not
the best teacher. There must
b::
a better mcans
of
learning. Expcri–
ence here means finding out the right
way
after it'.r too late,
after the
forests are destroyed, after the floods
have inundated houses and crops with
mud, after ground water tables have
sunk, and after deserts have been
cceated.
27
Richard St. Barbe Baker, A. A. Wyn,
Incorporated, New York, 1949, pages
237-238).
Shocking statements, from a scientist
who has devoted his life to thc study
and preservation of forests.
In man's greedy lust for money and
things, he has pillaged, denuded and
destroyed much of the beautiful earth.
Hand-in-hand with forest destruction
is the flooding of valleys and the
depletion of ou r soil. Farmers are dis-
Ambostodor
Col/ogo
Photo
Giont redwoods neor Colifornio's Yosemite Notionol Pork dworf o 2-year–
old boy. Sorne few oreas of mognificent old-growth timber like this one
hove been preserved for recreation todoy and for future generotions.
A
Better Way
There is a better way of learning.
Man must realize the importance of car–
ing for the earth's natural resources.
"The health and economic security of
the human race dcpend on how well the
forests of the world are managed," com–
mented one forester.
"The1·e is no time lo be lo.rt
if man is
to be saved from bringing disaster on
this planet and himself," the same
author continued
(Creen Glory,
by
covering that present methods of grow–
ing crops are also destroying the land.
But there are
keJS
to getting back in
harmony with nature. In past issues of
The
PLAJN
TRUTH we published the
articles "The Cause of Sick Soil" and
"Worldwide Crisis in Agriculturc."
They are now available in reprint form
- sent
free
upon request. The}' cxplain
holl'
man is destroying his precious soil
and
bou·
to
stop
further destruction and
restore fcrtility.
O