Our World

Protect The Amazon Basin

I started reading the first chapter on Latin America in our text books. About 2 pages into it, I came across this really interesting section on rainforest deforestation. With that, I decided to do a little research on my own. I ended up finding a couple fascinating sites. One in particular described different facts on our world's rainforests. Here's a bunch of thought provoking facts I discovered:
1. The Amazon Rainforest covers over a billion acres, encompassing areas in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and the Eastern Andean region of Ecuador and Peru. If Amazonia were a country, it would be the ninth largest in the world.
2. The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the "Lungs of our Planet" because it provides the essential environmental world service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. More than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest.
3. At least 80% of the developed world's diet originated in the tropical rainforest. Its bountiful gifts to the world include fruits like avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangos and tomatoes; vegetables including corn, potatoes, rice, winter squash and yams; spices like black pepper, cayenne, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sugar cane, tumeric, coffee and vanilla and nuts including Brazil nuts and cashews.
4. We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.

With that said, the Amazon is extremely crucial in our lives. Although we tend not to think about it, rainforest deforestation is a heavy problem we carry. The loss of land, could have us paying severe consequences. Did you know that scientists have identified over 3,000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of these plants are found in rainforests!
The article also stated that if we left the rainforest intact, harvesting essential nuts, fruits, medicine plants, etc then it would have more economic value as opposed to it being chopped down and used for timber/grazing land. In my opinion, the Amazon rainforest should be considered a precious and important land area. With an array of benefits, I can't help but ask one simple question..."why ruin something so valuable for our world?"
*You should definately check out these sites, for quick and interesting facts.

RAINFOREST FACTS

WHAT'S THE AMAZON BASIN?

posted by Anonymous @ 2/24/2006 05:12:00 PM