The Green War

To put into perspective the panic over Wall Street's greed-driven system having caught a cold to the tune of $1-$1.5 trillion, a study commissioned by the EU puts the annual cost of global deforestation at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion (title link). It arrives at this figure by calculating the cost of replacing what forests give us for free: clean drinking water, absorbing carbon dioxide, retaining soil, maintaining biodiversity, keeping us and the planet healthy. This finding confirms what those of us who think Green have been trying to get across to Government and to ignorant local councillors for years: that the czars of commerce have not only been living beyond our means, but also beyond the means of our planet! Bailout? No. Time for a revolution. Every tree, every green space, every garden, every allotment must be cherished and protected.
I've illustrated this post with In the Grove (1865) by Ivan Shishkin, my favourite landscape artist. If we go on the way the fat cats have led us, scenes like this will be viewed only in art galleries and museums.