String Theory is facing some serious challenges ... see the infinite trails and travails ..

Its worth reading "ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GIANT SEQUOIA NATIONAL MONUMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION"

There's some fascinating information there ...like the role of the Sequoias in Condor Breeding ... and forrestation
"giant sequoia groves and the surrounding forest provide an excellent opportunity to understand the consequences of different approaches to forest restoration." and "The giant sequoias themselves are the only known trees large enough to provide nesting cavities for the California condor, which otherwise must nest on cliff faces. In fact, the last pair of condors breeding in the wild was discovered in a giant sequoia that is part of the new monument. "

Chek it our

Some fool disregarded Smokey's rule, and now we might all be sadder; perhaps the valiant firefighters will triumph this time ... the story from the NY Times

Forestry officials worry the wildfire now raging through the Giant Sequoia National Monument is so intense firefighters won't be able to save the big trees if the flames reach them.

``These are the most massive living organisms ever to exist on the Earth,'' said Matt Mathes, spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. ``We regard them as some of most important parts of national forest system.''

The edge of the 50,000-acre wildfire was as close as a mile Wednesday to one stand of big trees, the Packsaddle Grove. The grove includes the Packsaddle Giant, which has the fourth largest circumference of any sequoia.

Did you know:


Sequoia -- from the Cherokee Indian chief Sequoyah
sempervirens -- from the Latin meaning "always living"

Well now you do.

I like Sequoias. Do you? Do you have any idea how long Sequoias live? You might want to find out? And what about us mere mortals?

I came across some notes by William Rees . Definitely worth thinking about. Here's something he's said that got my attention ...


Let us examine this prospect using ecological footprint analysis. If just the present [i.e. January 1996 - ed.] world population of 5.8 billion people were to live at current North American ecological standards (say 4.5 ha/person), a reasonable first approximation of the total productive land requirement would be 26 billion hectares (assuming present technologies). However, there are only just over 13 billion hectares of land on Earth, of which only 8.8 billion are ecologically productive cropland, pasture, or forest (1.5 ha/person). In short, we would need an additional two planet Earths to accommodate the increased ecological load of people alive today. If the population were to stabilise at between 10 and 11 billion sometime in the next century, five additional Earths would be needed, all else being equal - and this just to maintain the present rate of ecological decline (Rees and Weinberger, 1994).

I haven't checked the math yet ... but if its true ... then what will happen to the sequoias?