When you see how bad it can get ...

My wife and I just returned from a 15 day trip through China. I've practiced Tai Chi Chuan for 7 years and the trip was sponsored by the studio where I train. We spent the first week in classes with the very best Tai Ci masters in the world and then spent the second week doing the usual tourist stuff in Xian and Beijing. My overwhelming reaction: nearly all of the enviroment that I saw was was horribly damaged. During the entire time in country I saw only a handful of songbirds, a few magpies, no rodents, no hawks. Certainly no game birds. Anything that looks green is under mono-species cultivation. Most of the country is covered by a cloud of smog from the coal-burning electric plants. 5,000 years of human occupation have left a mark on the land and the animals that will not disappear until the next ice age. So, get out your checkbook and send some money to you favorite environmental advocate group. This trip really brought home to me how much we stand to lose if we do not learn to live in a balanced relationship with our environment.