Why Should We Care?
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Why should we care about protecting and preserving the rainforest?
We rely on the rain forests in ways most of us can't even begin to realize. From everyday household staples such as cola, chewing gum and bananas to tennis shoes, medicine and spices, the rain forest provides hundreds of products we often take for granted. However, the rain forest is much more important than the products which they produce.
While rain forests occupy less than seven percent of the Earth's land area, they are home to over 55% of the world's plant and animal species. To put this into perspective, we are losing 33.8 million acres of tropical rain forests every year. Every second, one acre is being destroyed! 33.8 million acres is larger than the total combined area of the states of Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire. In the time it's taken to read this paragraph, over 72 acres of pristine rain forest land has been destroyed.
This destruction has many dire consequences, including the destruction of nearly one hundred species of birds, animals and insects every single day, wreacking havoc on the region's natural food chain. The equivalent of 35 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the major "greenhouse gas" is added to the global atmosphere, accelerating changes in the climate while increasing the risk of global warming. Nearly 558 of the Earth's species live in tropical forests. Over 100 species of birds, animals, bugs and insects are becoming extinct every single day!
At this current rate, as much as 6% of tropical species may become extinct within the next decade.