Indigenous forests protect life, heart and genes: Spread ecological reforestation movement locally to globally
2009
Miyawaki, A.
We now enjoy an affluent, comfortable and efficient lifestyle that human beings have long dreamt of. And yet we feel lurking anxiety about the present and the future. Some youths do not have any definite aim in life or foresight, and some people are alarmed by nature destruction, environmental pollution, erratic climate change, global warming and so on. When it comes to medical care, there are serious shortages of physicians in rural areas and in specific departments such as obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics. The average life expectancy of Japanese has increased, but various forms of disease including cancer and dementia debase the quality of life. Affluent urban life today is supported by the countryside, which undertakes food-production and preserves the natural environment. The government should make more efforts to correct disparities between urban and rural areas in population, economics, culture, and medical care. We live now at a crossroads in the 4-billion-year long history of life on the earth. The thread of genes has continued to the present. It must be handed down to posterity. Advances in medical technology have to contribute greatly to the protection of our life and genes. Indigenous forests have unsophisticatedly fostered our health, physical and mental, soul, and have protected our genes. We humans and other animals alike are consumers in the ecosystems on the earth. Green plants are the only producers, and bacteria and fungi are decomposers. Green plants, especially multi-layered native forests that enrich green plants, are the very foundation of human existence.
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