Ed,

Thanks to Leonie Blain’s ‘Voices for the Earth’ in our Independent last week (CVI 29/6/22) for her plea to end Public Native Forest Logging in our forests in New South Wales. 

Apart from the fact that one large gum tree provides a home for 10,000 animals each year, every large tree that we allow to remain as a living tree in our native forests provides many additional, vital benefits.

A large gum tree draws 1,400 litres of water from the ground every day as part of the water cycle, that’s 511,000 litres of clean drinking water year after year, after year; that is so long as the forest is not cut down but remains as forest.

An area of forest traps 85% of the rain that falls. However, in a cleared urban area nearly 100% of the rain that falls has to be effectively drained away to prevent it causing considerable damage.

Thankfully today more people are more concerned about climate change and there is a far greater awareness of the vital part trees play in helping to stabilise the climate.

The world had 6 trillion trees when people first showed up on Earth. Today 3 trillion trees remain. But under “business-as-usual” half again more will disappear in the next 100 years.

Those 10,000 animals living in one large gum tree are definitely for the Earth, but they don’t have a vote.

So, what about us? Are we for or against the Earth?

Harry Johnson, Iluka