While many Americans believe that our nation is losing more and more of its forest land, the facts seem to be much more encouraging.  Below is a transcript from a recent ABC special called "Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity" hosted by John Stossel where this topic was examined:   Myth # 3: We are destroying our forests?   JOHN STOSSEL  (Voice Over) Lots of people don't like to see this [photo of a tree being cut down]. We're murdering that poor tree. Many of you see this and feel bad because you've been told that at the rate we're felling these trees [...]

 In the mysterious jungle known as the Amazon, legend had itthere lived a Golden King named El Dorado said to be so rich thateach day he used gold dust to adorn his royal body.  For GonzaloPizarro, brother of the famous conqueror of the Incas, this visionwas more than he could bear.  So in 1540, setting off with 4,000Indians, 200 horses, 3,000 swine, and packs of hunting dogs,Pizarro breached the Eastern edge of the great jungle and began hisquest to find and pillage El Dorado and his land of the cinnamonforests.     Pizarro, of course, never did find the Golden King.  And afterthrowing [...]

For many, the idea of off-shore oil rigs and environmental protection seem to go together like ... well, literally, oil and water. But if recent findings from the Bayou State of Louisiana are any indication, it may be such anti-oil sentiments which aren?t too factually slick.This, according to the publication Eco-Logic, which notes that a recent study from LSU found there is an astounding 50 percent more marine life around oil platforms than around surrounding mud bottoms. Indeed, the same study showed that 85 percent of Louisiana?s fishing trips involve fishing around these very waters, which is significant when you consider [...]

For years, many environmentalists have expressed great concern about the fate of the rainforest. The Rainforest Action Network, for instance, has made the claim that the Amazon is losing "two to three football fields a minute, while actor William Shatner (a.k.a. Captain Kirk) has asserted that, worldwide, rainforests are being cleared at 20 football fields a minute. But what's the truth about this jungle story? Well according to researchers Marc Morano and Kent Washburn of the American Investigator, a T.V. news magazine, the facts about the rainforest can't be seen through all the emotion-driven trees surrounding them. In their special report, [...]

CFACT Briefing Paper #102 From movies to classrooms to the nightly news, Americans are constantly being told that of the world's environmental "crises," the staggering loss of tropical rainforest, and Amazon rainforest in particular, is right up there at the top.  Pictures of charred remains of once lush jungles flicker before our eyes, we are shown the exotic plants and wild species that are being made homeless by the chainsaw and the flame, and numbers likened to one football field per second are used to describe this devastating loss.  As a result of this, we are told that the tropical rainforests [...]