Word: ecosystem
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...Their testimony suggests a peaceful experience. When death is imminent, the brain apparently realizes that pain can no longer be useful as an alarm to spur escape. So the pain is turned off and replaced by a kind of blissful surrender. Thomas writes: "If I had to design an ecosystem in which creatures had to live off each other and in which dying was an indispensable part of living, I couldn't think of a better way to manage...
...cultivated land with Agent Orange. The Academy estimates that 11. 25 million gallons of Agent Orange drifted over Vietnam--at least 100 kilograms of pure dioxin. This is well over the dosage scientists believe could kill human beings. Even the conservative Academy concluded that the herbicide changed the ecosystem of the forests, spreading diseases and disease-carriers such as rats and mosquitoes. Other studies have found very high levels of dioxin in the wildlife and fish of the area, contaminating food sources for many Vietnamese...
Without trees, a tropical ecosystem turns wasteland...
...result, the entire ecosystem is completely off balance. During the past 20 years, at least 450 varieties of plants and 204 species of birds have disappeared from the region. With so many of their natural enemies gone, pests and parasites have proliferated, attacking grass, leaves and fruit. Says Farmer Franz Hummel, "Nobody even bothers to raise papaya any more-they are all full of bugs...
While the Pomeranians can move away from the region, there is no quick cure for a dying ecosystem that took thousands of years to create. The Brazilian government has offered fiscal incentives for reforestation of the area, but profit-hungry companies respond by planting Australian eucalyptus and American pine, trees better suited for making a quick buck than for restoring an original habitat. Says Ruschi: "There are laws prohibiting the killing of rare species, but there are no laws preventing the destruction of the whole forest." Environmentalists are calling for conservation, but for many Brazilians, economic development remains...