Sunday, January 26, 2014
See what happens when you LOOK?
Via Science Daily:
Dr Chris Hunt, who is Director of Research on Environmental Change at Queen's School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, said: "It has long been believed that the rainforests of the Far East were virgin wildernesses, where human impact has been minimal. Our findings, however, indicate a history of disturbances to vegetation. While it could be tempting to blame these disturbances on climate change, that is not the case as they do not coincide with any known periods of climate change. Rather, these vegetation changes have been brought about by the actions of people. "There is evidence that humans in the Kelabit Highlands of Borneo burned fires to clear the land for planting food-bearing plants. Pollen samples from around 6,500 years ago contain abundant charcoal, indicating the occurrence of fire. However, while naturally occurring or accidental fires would usually be followed by specific weeds and trees that flourish in charred ground, we found evidence that this particular fire was followed by the growth of fruit trees. This indicates that the people who inhabited the land intentionally cleared it of forest vegetation and planted sources of food in its place."What? You mean Noble Firsts Nations Peopleses were invading the Precious Holy Fragile Delicate Endangered Forests even before George W. BushitlerHalliburton enslaved them to his Evil KKKarbon plans? You mean the original pristine extra-virgin untouched condition of these Endangered Forests has ALWAYS been affected by humans? And the Endangered Forests have always recovered from human invasions? NOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I WON'T BELIEVE IT! Seriously, it sounds like Hunt is trying to make a quiet but firm point, teaching by example. He's not blindly echoing genocidal wacked-out Gaian theories. Instead, he's following the sage advice of an earlier botanist: "Look about you. Take hold of the things that are here. Let them talk to you." You just might be surprised. More to the point, you just might be doing science. ¶ 6:14 AM
