A State Of Unequalled Diversity

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A State Of Unequalled Diversity ALABAMA?
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In trying to sing the praises of a place, in
trying to earn or draw respect to an endangered
place, you can only say pretty things about that
place and think pretty thoughts for so long. At
some point, you can no longer ignore the sheer
brutalities of math, nor the necessity of
activism. Its always a tough choice. You have
to decide whether the fight requires art or
advocacy -- and to try to have an awareness of
where the one crosses over into the other.
--Rick Bass -- from The Book of Yaak
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Alabama ranks 4th in overall plant and animal
biodiversity
Alabama has more miles of navigable waterways
Alabama is 1 in total numbers of fish species
In terms of aquatic biodiversity, the Cahaba is
1 in North America
In the late 90s, Bibb County, 8 new species
never before known
Can the news be all good?
The Nature Conservancy. 1997.
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• The Nature Conservancy. 1997.

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Our National Forests have 383,000 miles of roads
in them
8.4 billion backlog
More than 8X that of the U.S. Interstate System
From 1992-1997, Forest Service timber program
lost 2 billion dollars
In 1997, in AL, 13,404 board feet of timber
logged from National Forests at 465,000 loss
From Seeing the Forests for their Green,
ECONNORTWEST, 2000.
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Worlds Top 10 Consumers of Paper
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What do our National Forests give us?
Goods
timber
23 billion
Of these, only 3 of every 100 jobs created by
timber
minerals
forage for livestock
Services
recreational opportunities
234 billion
unroaded and wild areas
carbon sequestration, soil productivity
3.3 million jobs
high quality water
fish wildlife protection, natural pest
barriers
visibility scenic integrity
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Origins of Top 150 Prescription Drugs
Animal 27
57 of the top 150 brand names prescribed in
this time period contained at least one compound
now or once derived or patterned after compounds
derived from biological diversity.
Plant 34
Fungus 17
Bacteria 6
Marine 2
Synthetic 64
From Biodiversity and Human Health. Island
Press. 1997
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Natures yearly gift to humanity?
Not a million
Not a billion
But 2.9 TRILLION!!!
2.9 trillion in economic/environmental benefits
worldwide (319B US)
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So, if U.S. share is 319B per year

• Thats 87M per day

So, in 33 minutes...
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Americans have used 1.81 million of biological
services
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We pass a tree bigger than the rest, and pause
to marvel at it. Five of us ring it and try to
encircle it by holding hands, but cannot a sixth
is needed -- then a seventh. We cheer when we
link up, though, we have it trapped. We stand
there a moment and listen to it grow we all
agree that it would make a very large noise if it
ever fellit would probably rattle windows in
Birmingham and cause power outages in Atlanta.
May the woods never hear such a noise.
--Rick Bass, from The Book of Yaak
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Sipsey Wilderness
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Bucks Pocket
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Little River Canyon
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High Falls -- DeKalb County
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Cheaha Mountain
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Gulf Shores
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And Everything In-Between!
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What do I hope to teach my students?
Respect
Mother Earth
Heritage
Each other
Whatever you value and feel unintimidated by --
youll protect it.
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Alabamas Outdoors - The Ultimate Classroom!
---THE END