[FourPeas]

``There's not a square centimeter on Earth that's not affected by humans and what we produce, from chemicals in the atmosphere to global warming

Notice the need to interject doom-and-gloom into the article. Obviously, we can't report good news about the environment, otherwise all those enviro-loonies would be seen for the junk scientists that they are.

[Age of Reason]

46 percent of Earth is still wilderness, researchers report

That we are already down to only 46 percent is alarming.

Were we to see a graph showing the increasing rate at which wilderness has been disappearing, the problem would be more apparent.

When I was a kid, my older textbooks still showed maps having areas marked as "unexplored."

[TopQuark]

46 percent of Earth is still wilderness, researchers report

Now, it's not nice to stereotype like this the state of Arab culture. It's true that they are stuck in XII century, but to call Arab world wilderness is not nice.

/Sarcasm.

[Brimack34]

We have only developed about 6% of the land. We have a long way too go. Lets see how other countries are doing.

[TC Rider]

Anyone flying over the SE United States would swear he was seeing wilderness, yet it's nearly all privately owned. Forests are managed and nurtured here in the south. I'm sure that they don't count for the 'wilderness' study though.

[nicollo]

Is that what all that green stuff is that I see down there whenever I fly around the country?

[ArcLight]

Anyone who's ever spent a week in Detroit could have told them this...:-)

[LiteKeeper]

bump

[aruanan]

``There is also an ethical and moral reason,'' Lovejoy said. ``We are all -- every amoeba, every person, every rhinoceros -- the end point of 4 billion years of evolution. You just don't snuff that out.''

Why not? There's certainly no basis for ethics and morality in Lovejoy's second sentence that is anything other than rationalized self-interest.

[vikingchick]

The developed world should do more to safeguard wilderness, said Thomas Lovejoy, president of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington, D.C.

Think Ketchup Kerry is behind this?

[Cvengr]

"nearly half the land on Earth remains wilderness "

...and I wonder what percentage of that is ruled by inner city gangs ;^)

[2sheep]

Some parts of the wilderness are so full of nasty insects, snakes, animals or rough terrain that they are uninhabitable.  In looking at links about the recent total eclipse, I see that Australia's desert is full of snakes and other venomous creatures, has no water and gets to 122 degrees!

[John O]

`There is also an ethical and moral reason,'' Lovejoy said. ``We are all -- every amoeba, every person, every rhinoceros -- the end point of 4 billion years of evolution. You just don't snuff that out.''

I vote for snuffing out mosquitoes.

God put us here to be good stewards. If good stewardship requires removing some pests or cutting some jungle then we had better be getting on with it. We don't want to be derelict in our duties now do we?

GSA(P)

[PatrickHenry]

Great news! 46% of Earth remains to be plundered!

"A world to win; an empire to build!"
Kahn, from the old Star Trek series.

[RightWhale]

It's a lot of wilderness, but there is a reason why it still exists. Too cold, too dry being two reasons. Useless land. The pristine ANWR wilderness is pristine because it is frozen and if it weren't frozen it would be dry desert.

[BikerTrash]

EARTH FIRST!

We will farm, ranch, mine, pillage and plunder the other planets later.

[steve-b]

"There is also an ethical and moral reason," Lovejoy said. "We are all -- every amoeba, every person, every rhinoceros -- the end point of 4 billion years of evolution. You just don't snuff that out."

The snuffing out of creatures that can't adapt to the new environment resulting from the appearance of a sapient tool-user is evolution.

That said, prudence should be excersized to avoid damaging something of actual or potential value to humanity.