Posted on 09/10/2008 7:00:16 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Prince Charles last night urged business leaders to act with "wartime urgency" to save the rainforests.
In a sumptuous dinner for some of the highest ranking figures in the City the Prince warned a football pitch size of rainforest is destroyed every every four seconds.
But instead of the usual arguments of philanthropy, the Prince used cold hard cash to persuade business leaders to act.
He suggested setting up a new "eco-systems market" to save the rainforests.
Like the financial markets that already exist, the new system would put a value on rainforests in order to protect the benefits they bring such as absorbing carbon emissions, generating fresh water and preserving wildlife.
Traders could then make a healthy profit from buying and selling rainforest as a new asset class.
The idea is already on the agenda for talks in Copenhagen next year that will decide the world's approach to climate change through a new Kyoto Protocol.
But the Prince said finanical institutions must act now to make a change - despite hard times in the City.
He argued trees are worth more dead than alive because they can absorb some of carbon emissions causing climate change.
"I know that we are meeting at time when short term economic problems have become acute. And you might think it extremely odd, let alone mildly eccentric, to be asking the private sector to focus on what may appear to be tomorrow's problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Prince Charles, put your own money where your mouth is and leave the rest of us alone.
Oh for goodness sakes, who cares what this Tamponhead has to say..... worry about Mighty ‘Ol England, Chuck, and don’t worry about everything else....
The rain forrest in my opinion is far more in need of help then anything.
There are so many things there that we cannot afford to lose.
Prince William could reign happily for 75 years if his father doesn't muck it up for him.
There’s a half brain speaking.
No wonder his mother won’t give up the throne for this idiot.
EnviroWackos have been saying that acres and acres of rain forest is destroyed every few seconds for the past few decades.
Shouldn’t it be gone by now? When I look at it on satellite shots, it’s still plenty big and bright green from space.
I’m not buying it; but Limo Liberals with a case of White Guilt are more than welcome to buy up chunks of it if they’d like to. :)
The world’s richest welfare recipient speaks again and, as usual, his comments show that he is completely out of touch with reality and just plain stupid. The sooner Britain drops the monarchy, the better off it will be.
Tell that to Brazil.
LLS
The Prince needs to stick to what he knows: horses. Like his horsey wife number two,
Yawn, How many years have we heard this BS? If it were true that we are destroying so much rain forest, THEY WOULD BE GONE BY NOW.
Just move along, nothing here that we have not seen before.
He should be concerned with England.
England is circling the toilet drain. English culture is cringing in the shadows. No one stands and says enough, this guy is no leader, he is clueless.
What silliness and fiddling while London burns.
When are the Brits going to dump this inbreed idiot?
That's a little larger than India.
A "football pitch" is about one-tenth of a square kilometer.
Given that there are 86,400 seconds in a day, there would be 21,600 four-second increments and therefore 2,160 sq km per day deforested.
That works out to approximately 788,000 sq km deforested annually, or about 23% of the total - meaning that the rest of the rain forest should be gone in a little over four years.
The total amount deforested between 2003 and 2006 was approximately 84,000 according to ISPE.
So it looks like the actual rate is a football pitch every forty seconds, and a total deforestation time of 40 years at current rates.
Hard to believe that The Great Lakes have taken such good care of themselves for ‘lo these millions of years. ;)
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