Sunday, December 07, 2008

Let's go Climb a Tree Up to the Highest Redwood's Heights or The Fascinating and Scary Conditions of our Rainforest Biodegradation and Other Viruses

Aerial Cartography work of Yosemite Park
By Professor Heinrich C. Berann (born in Tirol, Austria, 1915 - 1999)
By the way, Mr. Beram is considered the father of the panorama maps. His seminal work involved the combination of the methods utilized in the European traditional painting with the techniques used in cartography, and the results were both, impressive and accurate, a you can see at the picture above. The presentation of this image is possible in here thanks to the courtesy from U.S. National Park Service Division of Publications, which released this image under the terms and conditions stated by the Public Domain license.
Richard Preston is a New Yorker, now living in New Jersey and a bestselling author. When I heard the above TED presentation, I was enchanted by the beauty and fractal realities of those tallest and oldest trees of this planet and also I was amazed by those adventures that he described so well showing us pictures of scientists and his family members climbing trees.

I was familiar with the Sequoias [sempervirens], AKA California or Cost Redwoods, and only because I have visited, the Yosemite Park in Sacramento, the first natural sanctuary or dedicate to the conservation of natural resources, a national reservation park in the United States, it was declared as such by the signature of the mere President Abraham Lincoln.

I went to visit the Yosemite park for two reasons; on one hand, I wanted to feel the intense history that I had read about this park, [I will write about that incredible an interesting history in other opportunity] and the other, I wanted to see with my own eyes how a Sequoia was really like, both experiences were completely fulfilled, and I wanted to state there forever in that place, but I had some projects in New York, and so I set my mind for returning some day. Today, more than ever, I think that I should come back to build a cozy small cottage [Although without wood, I will use only natural stones or clay for it] in some place near that wonderful park, and thus to be able to live near that millinery and sacred place, in which the tallest and oldest trees of the world live in harmony with the universe. It is a matter of fact, after so many years I am maturing more and more ideas to be around those powerful and magical trees, somehow and therefore, to leave this city for good.

The Video of a Large Tree




Anyways, then I realized that Dr. Richard, during his presentation, started to discuss about one of his best books, basically a non-fiction research about the Ebola virus; and thereafter, he was showing us pictures of what is currently happening at the other side of the cost from Yosemite Park, this is, at the inside of the eastern rain forest, his photographs depicted, as he put it, that the "…threes were dead as far as one can see" and I will add to his statement, beyond imagination. Why is this so? I almost screamed in terror and started to regurgitate my succulent and hot soup. Richard suddenly connected all the dots for me; he explained that as the Ebola did, other viruses and living organisms attack humans, but now there are still others that are attacking quietly other living beings, like 'incubating' themselves within plants or animals (Remember the sickness of the crazy cows, or more recently, in Ireland pork contamination. The Irish are stating that some 25 countries already have that “rotten pork”)





Dr. Richard Preston About "Ebola Experiences"









Therefore, sweating a little already, I devoted more attentions to Richard’s explanation; he said that once upon the time, there was this little tiny insignificant, almost ridicule and miserable thingy or being, which decided to cross the borders and emigrate to USA, and so these little thingies came from who knows where to America, to be hosted by the threes of the east costs of were also we have our rain forest; and in no time, in less than two or three years, these harming beings, in a sort of a fashionable hyper-capitalistic aptitude, have kill almost the entirety of the rain forest. Those poor threes just could not take it any longer. They just lost the battle and now they are almost gone and are seemed of color gray for good, evenly their wood is unusable, it seems.

At the end, I was very sad, I thought this can't be true, it was so fast for those benevolent hosts large and once robust vegetables. In this case, the host of this presentation seemed to share my same preoccupation, and therefore he asked Richard for further clarification, at the end, of his delivery. The host asked if the phenomenon was caused in anyway, or manner by man's activities on earth, I imagined that Sarah Palin was also watching the presentation and she was stating “Nowhere Alaska or that is a loaded question with a lot of baloney in it,” or something like that, while the answer of Dr. Richard Preston was categorically, reiterative and short: "Yes!", he said, and then, he repeated, "it is caused by the actions of men on our planet earth."

Then, suddenly, I realized that one of Richard's books, in this case a fiction book, was about the strong possibility of a bioterrorist attacks on U.S. soil; exactly, the title of that book is, "The Cobra Event (1998)" and thus my anxiety grew and I felt my heart beating faster than usual more so when, I learned that evenly the then President Clinton got alarmed and wanted to do something to diminished the risks described by Preston, right after having read his book. More importantly, perhaps, is that on one of his non-fiction books, Richard, that is, "The Hot Zone" (1994) [a bestseller] about his finding about the Ebola virus, was made into a Hollywood movie under the name “Outbreak” the same year in which the book was published and released in the theaters in 1995 starring Dustin Hoffman.

Dr. Preston discussing his scary interviews
on Ebola virus at the "Level 4th"






What finally released some, but of course not all, of my preoccupation and nervous tension, it was the fact that, Richard besides of having written fictional books, at least two of them, it is a Doctor, but his PhD is on English, so he does write very well and he has an extraordinary imagination and a remarkable discipline for conducting scholarly research and interviews, but also he might be as his brother, Douglas Preston, meaning that he is very interested in the business of selling his bestsellers; precisely those which he has written not too long ago.

Consequently, a little bit of hype, or evenly, a little more in here and in there, it could be all good news, as well as business for him in this regard. Notwithstanding, it seems that he does think with stunning clarity and giving his thorough researching skills and the quality of his writing as his success, perhaps as President Clinton did, we need to listen with dedicated and special attention to what he has to say about these environmental maladies on our rain forest. Therefore, please find here below one of his strongest, latest and most informative presentations.

Presentation over the Rainforest - December 3, 2008

No comments:

Post a Comment

Plowed Results | Resultados Arados