Modern technology / owes ecology / an apology.

That's the little poem in today's A Word A Day posting.

Apologies to planet Earth are in order from the state of North Carolina, as we learn the following:

Nearly 2 million acres of forest and farmland in North Carolina will disappear over the next 20 years if development continues at the current rate, says a new report by Environment North Carolina, a conservation advocacy group.

"North Carolina's signature woodlands, farmlands and open spaces are disappearing at an alarming rate," said Elizabeth Outz, state director of Environment North Carolina.

In the Triangle alone, since 1987 the amount of developed land has more than doubled, with no end in sight. There's a proposal in the General Assembly for a bond referendum to allocate $1 million over the next five years to purchase and protect open space, particularly around watersheds. Read more about it at Land for Tomorrow, an organization the Town of Chapel Hill is happy to support.