Google illegally demolished an estimated 250,000 trees in Finland to make way for a data center, leaving behind a lifeless mud wasteland that forced packs of wolves into a nearby town in search of food and infuriated locals, according to a report.
Google illegally demolished an estimated 250,000 trees in Finland to make way for a data center, leaving behind a lifeless mud wasteland that forced packs of wolves into a nearby town in search of food and infuriated locals, according to a report.
Topsoil is an underappreciated resource.
Edit: Seriously, depending on the environment in Finland, this is a civilizational damage that could take centuries to repair.
The difference between Haiti and the Domincan Republic comes down to the DR preserved its forests and topsoil (thanks to a brutal but environmentally conscious dictatorship), but Haiti deforested with abandon. [Source: The much and rightfully maligned Jared Diamond]
In NW Florida we have an inch of topsoil in most places, then it’s a red clay/sand mix all the way to China. I never remove organic material from the yard and toss scraps out there to run over with the mower. I will not life long enough to make the slightest dent.
I saw a movie set in Texas where a kid is punished by having to dig an enormous 12-foot-hole over the weekend. Coming from New England, where there’s a giant rock every few inches, I thought, “must be nice.”
Topsoil can blow away if there’s nothing on it, though, no matter how thick it is… hard lesson from history.
My scrawny 10-yo son and I dug a hole for 150G pond in minutes. Most of the effort was wheeling it to down to the backyard. Only place I have organics is it our camp, and it’s mostly swamp.
The google forest cuts were 0.05% of the annual felling in Finland. Are we doing civilizational damage 2000 times worse, every year, than what Google did?
Does your lemmy client not allow you quote full sentences? I wrote depending on the environment.
Also, there’s a difference between responsible logging and clear cutting.