Dimanche 4 avril 2010
7
04
/04
/Avr
/2010
22:33
As we all know, the worlds rainforests are being removed systematically for reasons, in some cases, of local economy. But the vast majority is simply to enrich a handful of already wealthy people
and conglomerates and to satisfy the worlds ever growing demand for meat.
The effects of this deforestation are widely known but I'm going to list out a few of the main ones for those that may have only just turned their attention to this subject.
Firstly it is important to comprehend the rate with which the rainforests are disappearing. In fact an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch is destroyed every second!! This adds up to
150 acres every minute, 78 million acres every year.
Originally rainforest's covered 15% of the earths land surface. Today it is down to a mere 6%.
As we loose rainforest we loose the flora and fauna to the extent where it is estimated that we loose 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day.
Considering the fact that we know more about the number of stars and galaxies in the universe than we do about the total number and diversity of the species in our rainforests we are, in effect,
'burning the books' before we have had the chance fully appreciate the extent and contents of the library.
Something that must be underlined at this point is that our rainforests, for the main part, date back to the age of the dinosaurs. This means that for the past 100 million years all these species
of flora and fauna have developed and evolved to a point of perfection that, for example, some plants have become carnivores. Certain trees and plants have developed pollination and reproduction
techniques using wind, rain, rivers, flys, insects, bats, mammals, birds... In fact, every tree, plant, animal, insect has developed its own unique way to survive and procreate using physiology
and chemistry.
This means that our rainforests are an almost untapped source of knowledge that could be consulted to find cures for modern diseases. For example, The National Cancer Institute of America has
identified, so far, 3,000 plants that are active against cancer cells. Of these, 70% are plants found in our rainforests. But we continue to burn down our universal pharmacy.
And what about global warming I hear you ask!!
Of course, and it goes almost without saying, the rainforests are the earths lungs. We rely on them to convert carbon gases into oxygen by their process of phtotsynthesis.
Less rainforest = less oxygen = more cabon dyoxide = greenhouse effect = global warming = polar ice cap meltdown = sea level increase = Netherlands ceases to exist (and not the only ones either)
.................to be continued...............
I invite you all to do to do 2 things:
1) Add your comments here
2) Continue reading up on the subject. The following link is a good starting point.
Rainforest Preservation
