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A combination of logging and clearing land for farming and ranching has weakened forests in many areas to the point where they are vulnerable to fire. A healthy rainforests will not burn. But large segments of the world's rainforests are no longer healthy. During the late summer and fall of 1997, forests burned out of control in Indonesia. For month, heavy smoke filled the air in the region, causing millions of people to become ill. Some 1,100 airline flights were canceled. Earnings from tourism dropped precipitously.

Although the fires in Indonesia captured the news headlines, there was even more extensive burning in the Amazon, which received much less attention because it was more remote.

And in the spring of 1998, forests began to burn out of control in southern Mexico. The nearby state of Texas had several dangerous air alerts as the smoke moved northward. At times, it drifted as far north as Chicago. In early summer 1998, fires also started burning out of control in Florida. Even with personnel and equipment from some 23 states brought in to help, efforts to tame the fires failed. One entire country was evacuated along with parts of several others – and this in a country that probably has the most sophisticated fire – fighting equipment in the world.

No one could have of the burning around the world during this 12 – month span. But in retrospect, there was a human influence in each of these situations. A combination of forests weakened by the forces just cited, EL Nino – related droughts, and in some cases, as in Florida, record high temperatures contributed to this wholesale burning.

Fisheries actually preceded agriculture as a source of food, but ours is the first generation to reach – and perhaps exceed – the sustainable yield of oceanic fisheries. In fact, in just the last half century the oceanic fish catch increased nearly five times, doubling seafood availability per person for the world as a whole. Marine biologists doubt, however, that the oceans can sustain a catch much above the 95 million tons of the last few years.

According to the U. N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 11 of the world`s 15 most important fishing areas and 70 percent of the major fish species are either fully or overexploited. The welfare of more than 200 million people around the world who depend on fishing for their income and food security is threatened.