Half The Oak Trees In Germany Showing Signs Of Severe Pollution Damage

[hatrack]

BERLIN - Germany's oak trees -- famed for their strength and endurance and a much-loved national symbol -- have alarming levels of pollution damage, with one in two showing severe symptoms, a government report said on Tuesday. An Environment Ministry report on the state of Germany's forests said the number of oaks with damaged crowns (upper section including branches and leaves) had nearly doubled in the past 11 years to 85 percent in 2005. Even more dramatic was the rise in trees with severe treetop damage, up to 51 percent in 2005 from 9 percent in 1984.

"The situation for oaks is worrying," the ministry said in a statement. "At 51 percent, the level of severe treetop damage has hit a new record." It said air pollution as well as parasites and unusual weather conditions had contributed to the damage. The problem is a blow to a nation where politicians boast of "standing firm as a German oak" and where, even today, about one-third of the country is forested.

Thick woodland has been a key part of Germany's image from ancient times, when the tribal chieftain Hermann defeated the invading Roman legions in the murky Teutoburg forest to the 19th century Romantics and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Environmental lobby groups said oaks had been especially hard hit because of their long life span of up to 1,000 years, which gives them more time to accumulate harmful substances.

"We have seen such a strong reduction of oaks in recent years," said Ruediger Rosenthal, spokesman for environmental lobby group BUND. "We cannot rule out any more that a tree species like the oak could disappear from our forests."

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34652/story.htm

[Lorien]

1. Isn't there an ancient Native American prophecy that the world will end

when the trees die from the tops down? :scared:

[Oerdin]

2. I believe this is caused by acid rain

It's a real problem but not one which Germany can easily solve since most of the coal being burned is created in the former Soviet Block. Still, Germany has done almost nothing to meet Kyoto reductions and instead simply rigged the system to start counting in 1990 before the old inefficient and polluting communist era factories had been closed. By the time Kyoto was signed those old DDR factories had long since been closed and green house gas output had once agin began to rise in Germany. Still, because of the way the rules were rigged German politicians can still claim there has been a reduction. :rolleyes:

[Lorien]

3. And here we tend to think of Germany as a fairly "progressive" country

if they can't manage Kyoto, then where's the hope for the rest of the planet?

[SpiralHawk]

4. That is a Haudenausenee (Six Nations) teaching

from either Handsome Lake or the Peacekeeper.

There were 3 signs to watch for: when the elms die (they are long gone). When the trees (especially maples) begin to die from the top down (actually been going on for a few years), and then the Third and final sign: when the strawberry plants refuse to give their fruit.

There is much more to these teachings...But the message is not so much that "the" world will end, as is that "this" world (or eopoch) will end, just as the last epoch ended with a Great Flood.

But we have a choice. The road forks. One road, the road of the good heart, leads to what other indigenous nations speak of as the 5th World (epoch).