by Mei Pomeroy

Created on: June 25, 2009

Imagine yourself in a green forest. Hear the brightly colored birds singing above you; see the trees stretching over your head for hundreds of feet, rain trickling down the trees, filling up leaves with water. Imagine monkeys swinging from branch to branch and green mosses and grasses filling the area around you. Then suddenly you smell fires burning a little farther away, and hear large machines tearing down the forest. You hear trees cracking and falling; animals are swarming at you trying to escape the destruction.

The resources you use every day, being replenished by this forest, are disappearing right before you. Chico Mendes, a leader who died fighting for the Amazon described the importance of the rainforest, through his efforts, At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity. (108 quotes) CO2 we humans put into the earth everyday is sinking into the rainforests everyday, and the forests replenish us with oxygen. Now there is so much destruction in the Amazon it is becoming dry and temperatures are increasing. Not only is the destruction contributing to global warming, but it is the second leading cause of climate change just behind fossil fuels. Why do we continue to do this to ourselves?

Between 1978 and 1996, 12.5% (200,000 sq. miles) of the Amazon rainforest had been destroyed. It continued to be destroyed at a rate of 8000 sq. miles per year until 2000 (Timeline Brazil). In 1997 200,000 sq. miles were destroyed by fire. Then in 1998 another forest fire spun out of control and 400 firefighters were sent to the northern Amazon. Forest fires continue to destroy the forest. In 1998 and 2005, Brazil had seen two of the worst droughts since 1983. What is causing these severe changes? And how is all the destruction affecting us?

Large amounts of the Amazon are turning to dry savanna every year. Temperatures are rising, and less rain is falling every year in Northern South America. The rainforest normally absorbs our CO2 and acts as lungs for the earth, producing 20% of the world's oxygen. Now the deforestation is contributing to global warming, and less forest is available to soak up the CO2 in our atmosphere. Water levels are lowering and causing severe changes in our weather. Both the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation must be urgently and significantly

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