No doubt Margaret Mitchell's big and beloved novel deserves great praise.  But when I saw the name "Rhett Butler," what popped into my mind at once was Clark Gable, i.e. the movie, not the book.  The Wikipedia article seems a bit perverse, in fact, to concentrate so thoroughly on the character in the novel.  Since I think it is fair to say that for the great majority of us, the definitive telling of GWTW is the movie, not the novel, a more balanced article would include a discussion of how the novel's character is presented distinctly, perhaps with important differences, in the movie.

To Biodiv, on his message: I love the photo of the red-eyed tree frog, Agalichnis callidryas,one of my favorite forest critters, and definitely one of the most photogenic of herps.

On the other hand, we really have to find a better way to make the same point as that horrible metaphor, "to kill two birds with one stone."

What you wrote is admirable, as far as I can understand it.  And I think there should be no surprise if what you wrote and what Rhett wrote are so simpatico.

Here is the second of the four birds that you are aiming your missile at:
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You are preserving a part of the planet's life-giving biosphere (and its biodiversity).
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I would appreciate it if you could elaborate on "life-giving" in that sentence.  In view of your great sensitivity to how evolution involves competition that is sometimes violent and even deadly, as you expressed so well most recently in the Quammen thread, I wonder what is it about the planet's biosphere that leads you to characterize it as on balance "live-giving."  I assume you mean more than just that well-adapted organisms tend to fare pretty well, all things being equal.  I also assume that this is a well-worked subject, so that you will have an answer ready at hand.  Thanks.

Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!

I am sure you are right, Biodiv, about the Amazonian carbon sink.  But the term "biosphere" still confuses me, then.  I thought it had something to do with plants and animals and other organisms, whatever their effect in storing carbon.  Are you saying that, say, the Sonoran Desert, with its several ecosystems, is a less valuable and "life-giving" part of the biosphere than the Amazon valley, because it is not so impressive as a carbon sink?  

Chickens are our cousins! So are other sensitive animals! Enough is enough! No more factory farms!