re: Hundreds of mysterious Stonehenge like structures found in Amazon

I find it interesting that the immediate use of deforestation shows up.

So basically, that area wasn't a forest at one point and the stuff was built. Then plants grew around the area and eventually covered them up

People used to think smoking is a freedom, and individuals should have the right to damage their body. Then we learned second hand smoke effects everyone. Same thing with clear cutting forest. It is an archaic practice, and should be illegal. Old forest filter our air, which effects every human on the planet.

It is about the ability of a rainforest to act as a "carbon sink" and absorb carbon dioxide. With an ecosystem like that, there tends to be a tipping point where the forest can no longer sustain itself and die off. So ok, they're cutting down less trees than they were some years ago, but they're still cutting down, which means the Amazon is still losing the ability to sustain itself and act as that sink.

Another argument is that ~half of the world's plants and animals exist in rainforests. Who knows the benefit the life in these ecosystems can provide for us.

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But don't act like it affects you from a global climate perspective, or will affect you, here in America, at any point in the distant future, b/c it won't.

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Well, I like to look out for the future. I don't care if I won't experience any affects directly in my life, even though I might, we don't know. I don't want to leave a shitty world for my future kids.

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Crazy shite has happened to this earth for millions of years. Every living organism is affected by it at some point. Some adapt and live on, some die off. It's been that way for a very long time.

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Yeah, but that doesn't give us an excuse when we can stop ourselves from doing it.

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Humans arent the first ones to cause the changing of an ecosystem on this earth, and they won't be the last.

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Yeah, but we are the first ones who can actually do something about it.

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People are cutting down the rain forest, which affects all of us.

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And yet, they are finding multiple structures built in what is now a 'rain forest'?

My oh my, how did the Earth survive, when that area wasn't a 'rain forest', and was very habitable?

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talk about jumping into a thread late.

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So basically, that area wasn't a forest at one point and the stuff was built. Then plants grew around the area and eventually covered them up

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No, according to the article, it was a forest and the people who built these structures only made small clearings where they built them, which barely put even the smallest dent in the overall forest.

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Deforestation has declined nearly 80% in the last decade in Brazil. Tell me how that is impacting your life.

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I'm not a treehugger, but it affects everyone. The Amazon is called "the lungs of earth" because of the massive amount of carbon dioxide it consumes. Less amazon, more CO is not a good combination for anyone.

I understand that that region is trying to establish an economy grounded in agriculture...but that want/need needs to be washed against the impact for everyone else. (Same goes for China and India and their obscene levels of pollution and CO production.)

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In August, NASA released a picture of the Amazon rainforest burning as seen from the ISS. Not only does this decimate the habitat of millions of species in the region, but it is also aggravating climate change. Over the last 40 years, 20% of the rainforest has been cleared for timber and to make room for farm land.

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And yet, they are finding multiple structures built in what is now a 'rain forest'?

My oh my, how did the Earth survive, when that area wasn't a 'rain forest', and was very habitable?

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In the battle of man v Earth, my money is on Earth. Earth is gonna kick our arse...eventually. But the Sun might just get us first.

We basically just need to get by long enough until we have the means to build massive interstellar cruisers so we can all leave the poors behind to fend for themselves with the mess we left them with.

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You want to show me how it affects the global ecosystem and climate other than showing me how big the Amazon rainforest is?

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Um, it's pretty straight forward. We know that humans produce CO, which is bad. Trees filter CO, which is good. Less trees is bad. We also know how much CO the Amazon filters from the ecosystem...it's an unreal amount, but CO is still increasing (which, as noted, is bad).

Are you purposely trying to be obtuse?