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So, let me get this straight - We are the stupid
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.
One and one-half acres of rainforest are lost every second with tragic consequences for both developing and industrial countries.
Rainforests are being destroyed because the value of rainforest land is perceived as only the value of its timber by short-sighted governments, multi-national logging companies, and land owners.
Nearly half of the world's species of plants, animals and microorganisms will be destroyed or severely threatened over the next quarter century due to rainforest deforestation.
Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists.
Most rainforests are cleared by chainsaws, bulldozers and fires for its timber value and then are followed by farming and ranching operations, even by world giants like Mitsubishi Corporation, Georgia Pacific, Texaco and Unocal.
There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000.
In Brazil alone, European colonists have destroyed more than 90 indigenous tribes since the 1900's. With them have gone centuries of accumulated knowledge of the medicinal value of rainforest species. As their homelands continue to be destroyed by deforestation, rainforest peoples are also disappearing. www.rain-tree.com...
Originally posted by ofhumandescent
Very well written SD!
We are still messing up the planet major big time - There is a island in the Pacific Ocean larger than the State of Texas made up entirely of garbage (Google Garbage Patch)
Originally posted by ofhumandescent
Did you buy or use plastic today? Don't! Boycott plastic if at all possible.
Originally posted by ofhumandescent
We still have tens of millions of people that go to bed hungry, have no access to the basic needs that should be granted to all, the right to shelter, food and medical care.
Originally posted by ofhumandescent
So many fellow human beings are oppressed, being tortured, murdered and denied "justice".
Originally posted by ofhumandescent
One and one-half acres of rainforest are lost every second with tragic consequences for both developing and industrial countries.