Natural Science Forum / Biology / Botany / February 2005

Thanks, Monique, for your ideas to stimulate students in plant
awareness.   You stated:

I see a *huge* animal bias in my college level students.  To some of
them, trees are merely something you sit in to hunt from.

I just received the following news item on the Tsunami in which trees
were not taken for granted (see below).   This example not only
testifies to the importance of trees but invites discussion of human
stewardship responsibility to maintain tree plantings and forests for
the "ecosystem services" they provide, both obvious such as protection
from storm, and the more subtle such as climate amelioration,
maintenance of atmospheric gases, etc.

Here is the item:
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By MATHEW INGRAM

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 Updated at 12:54 PM EST

Globe and Mail Update

A world record for tsunami safety: As a local development effort in
2002, the Indian village of Naluvedapathy decided to try and win a
Guinness World Record by planting tens of thousands of trees.
Villagers
won the record with 80,244 saplings - and those saplings turned into
trees, which then helped to save their lives
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4269847.stm>  when the tsunami
hit the Tamil Nadu region of India on December 26. Many villages and
towns on the coast were crushed or swept away, but Naluvedapathy
residents were protected by the canopy of trees they had planted. "We
were saved by these trees," said 70-year-old resident Marimathu. It's
a
good thing they didn't decide to win the world record for pogo-stick
jumping or longest fingernails.

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Thanks,
John

John E. Silvius, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
251 N. Main St.
Cedarville University
Cedarville, Ohio   45314
E-mail:   silviusj@cedarville.edu
http://www.cedarville.edu/dept/sm/silvius/index.htm
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