Posted on 10/11/2005 6:09:57 AM PDT by Esther Ruth
Major drought in Amazon rainforest
Monday, October 10, 2005; Posted: 4:54 p.m. EDT (20:54 GMT)
MANAQUIRI, Brazil (Reuters) -- The worst drought in more than 40 years is damaging the world's biggest rainforest, plaguing the Amazon basin with wildfires, sickening river dwellers with tainted drinking water, and killing fish by the millions as streams dry up.
"What's awful for us is that all these fish have died and when the water returns there will be barely any more," Donisvaldo Mendonca da Silva, a 33-year-old fisherman, said.
Nearby, scores of piranhas shook in spasms in two inches of water -- what was left of the once flowing Parana de Manaquiri river, an Amazon tributary. Thousands of rotting fish lined the its dry banks.
The governor of Amazonas, a state the size of Alaska, has declared 16 municipalities in crisis as the two-month-long drought strands river dwellers who cannot find food or sell crops.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Some more excerpts.....
"In the main river port of Manaus, dozens of boats lay stranded in the cracked dirt of the riverbank after the water level receded. Pontoons of floating docks sit exposed on dry land. People drive cars where only months ago they swam."
"An hour from where it joins the Rio Negro to form the Amazon River, the Rio Solimoes is so low that kilometers (miles) of exposed riverbank have turned into dunes as winds whip up thick sandstorms. Vultures feed on carrion."
"Another major Amazon tributary, Rio Madeira, is so dry that cargo ships carrying diesel from Manaus cannot reach the capital of Rondonia state without scraping the bottom. Instead, fuel used to run power plants has to be hauled in by truck thousands of kilometers (miles) from southern Brazil."
"In Acre state, some 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of forest have burned since the drought started and thick black smoke has on occasion shut down airports."
"We closed 40 schools and canceled the school year because there's a lack of food, transport and potable water," said Gilberto Barbosa, secretary of public administration in Manaquiri. People whose wells have dried up risk drinking river water contaminated by sewage and dead animals."
or........
It was Karl Rove & his Hallibuton Weather Machine that did it!
While I do feel for the people of the Amazon Basin......
IT'S ALL BUSH'S/ROVE'S FAULT!!!!!!
Reading all of that can certainly make one feel for the people who cross our borders. As I was reading I thought, "Why don't they get out of there and move to a place where they aren't forced to walk 25 miles for basic medical care.". Then it occurred to me that many of then were doing just that.
That kind of gave me a new perspective.
Sounds a lot like the DNC.
Yes, but there seems to be a stampede of Republicans trying to take their places in the slime of socialism.
Are you implying that it would be in these peoples' best interest to stop having so many children?
Actually, my wife has been begging for more children for a while now. We have a boy, 5, and a girl, 4. I love them both a whole bunch (of course), but I am not about to have more. My wife and I could not afford to have more children as this would mean she would have to quit work and our expenses would go up at the same time. (FWIW, my wife works nights and I work days so that the kids are never without a parent in the house.)
She and I were absolute money morons during the first 4 years of our marriage. We are still paying for that now. We have since taken Crown Financial classes and are trying very hard to tidy up our situation. I understand that God instructed us to be fruitful and to multiply, but He also instructs us to be good stewards of what he has given us. Having more children would be irresponsible. We would also be neglecting the stewardship of our most precious gifts, our children.
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