Natural ou artificial?

Até o Homem, consegue, sem o querer e no meio da destruição, "construir" imagens destas. Que excelente metáfora para a destruição da floresta, não fosse a própria Natureza a causa da destruição que se observa na imagem. Em 2005, o Furacão Gudrun varreu a Suécia, destruindo uma vasta área de floresta.

"Hurricane Gudrun, which swept over Sweden the night before January 9, 2005, caused the involuntary felling of some 75 million cubic metres of forest, nearly equivalent to a year’s timber harvest. As a result, the inventory item of timber stands was drastically reduced last year, while at the same time inventories of forestry companies were packed with trees taken from the stricken area. Since not all of the trees felled could be processed, the inventory build-up of forestry companies did not make up for the decrease in timber stands, and the overall increase in forestry inventories was abnormally low. A portion of the forest felled that could not be used in the Swedish sawmill and wood pulp industries was exported. Exports of timber soared by more than 60 percent last year, while imports decreased. Prices of forestry products on the Swedish market plummeted in 2005. The aggregate effect of the storm on GDP growth for 2005 can be estimated at 0.1 percentage point; in other words, GDP growth last year was reduced by a tenth of one percent because of the storm."

Na limpeza da área florestal afectada pelo furacão, os tractores e os camiões deixaram esta impressionante imagem. Foto daqui.