Myth 2: The world's forests are disappearing because of overpopulation. This is an important matter because forests are an essential part of the world's environment The world forested area, estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. (FAO), currently amounts to four billion hectares, covering 30 percent of the land surface of the earth. Few people realize this is the same figure as in the 1950s. There has also been great agitation about the "destruction of the tropical rainforests." Someone has claimed that an area twice the size of Belgium is now being logged worldwide each year, but people don't realize Belgium could fit into the world's tropical forests 500 times, and in the meantime, the rest of the world's trees – 99.6 percent of them – are continuing to grow.
Buffett and Gates joining forces is like Attila and Genghis attacking at the same time. It's time to muster our resources, dwarfish though they are compared to the Gates and Buffett Eugenics Foundation. What can we do? Not a lot, but a few suggestions:
*Donate your limited funds to organizations that contest the Eugenics Foundation. Unfortunately, I can't even think of any, though I know they're out there. Write to me (email on the left), if you know of a worthwhile organization or two (or five). I'll mention them here.
*Give such organizations a free ad on your blog.
*Eschew Microsoft products. In light of my Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, and Word software (MS products) all malfunctioning for no apparent reason (I paid my tech guy $300 to find the problem, and he couldn't), this will be easier for me than normal. Outlook Express is easy to replace (get an invitation to gmail; I don't use it yet, but everyone tells me it's excellent). So is Explorer (download Mozilla Firefox). As for MS Word, good luck. At this point, I don't know how I could exist without it.
*Sell Microsoft stock. Disclosure: I'm a very small shareholder, and I'm going to hold onto mine until I recoup the losses I suffered after buying it at $27. I won't buy anymore, though, despite its tempting low price right now.
*Crank out more than 2.1 children.
*Toss out Chesterton's observation during bar conversations: "To be smart enough to acquire all that money, you must be dumb enough to want it" (rough quote)
That's just a starter. If you have other suggestions, let me know.
