Tuesday, June 9, 2009

An End to paradise


Imagine a land where waterfalls are crashing upon rocks with a thunderous roar. Monkeys swing from trees that are taller than your house. The rain forest is a place where the shrubbery engulfs the floor and the trees in the canopy make it appear to be a permanent eclipse. The rainforest is a whimsical place that is home to 40 to 75 percent of the earth’s species of wildlife. In addition, the plant life is responsible for providing the earth with 28 percent of its oxygen.
The rain forests benefit the earth in a number of ways. However, deforestation has devastated the rainforest causing E.O Wilson , research professor Harvard university ,to estimate that 50,000 species a year go extinct. Rainforests .net t projects that the rate of deforestation higher. Journalist, Murray Morgan was quoted It was strangely like war. They attacked the forest as if it were an enemy to be pushed back from the beachheads, driven into the hills, broken into patches, and wiped out. Many operators thought they were not only making lumber but liberating the land from the trees..." Morgan Felt that the forests itself was under attack by industrialization.
All over the world, people are joining, together to save the polar ice caps and develop sustainable economies. Fighting to preserve the majesty of earth is a vital mission. Without a doubt fighting for green jobs and lobbying for cleaner energy are fights that must be fought, however the rate at which the rainforest is being destroyed is an outrage in a self. How is it that whole coalitions are going green, yet there is this great injustice occurring?
Rainforest.net states on their website 921,915, is the number of species that have gone extinct since January. It is alarming to think that it has been projected that by the year 2014 that 50 percent of the wildlife the rain forests will be extinct. While many debate the rate of destruction of the rain forests author Patrick Symmess states “You hear headlines from time to time about the Amazon rainforest disappearing at a greater or lesser rate.... The real story is that over time the rate has stayed just the same. Year after year, decade after decade, we have failed to stop or really even decrease deforestation...”
Deforestation of the rainforests releases large amounts of carbon dioxide , which in turn causes droughts that kill trees. The Meteorological office (Met office) predicts that by 2050, more trees will die simply because of drought. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not to list the names of who is under contract or the benefactors who cut down the trees on their website.
Global warming has a web effect, everything that damages the ozone layer manages to damages every other aspect of the earth An example of this is the icecaps melting in turn, the polar bear population depletes. The global eco system suffers when the necessities such as ice, trees, and animals go extinct. The repercussions of mass deforestation as it relates to global warming are apparent when one views images of eco systems and compare them to images from fifty years ago. The comparison is quite telling of the direction in which humankind is heading.
When thinking about deforestation and how it relates to humans, the question of who is benefiting from such massive “development” comes to mind? The government has “turned a deaf ear” to the rain forests. Ignoring the rain forests could prove to be a fatal mistake.
The problem of global warming requires attention for every detail. The global eco system suffers when resources are depleted , moreover it causes a strain on the planet as it attempts to compensate for lost resources. Existing in a limited quantity natural resources had the lifespan to last 100,000 of years , however the rate they are being is has exhausted that life span.
Frederick Douglass said, “Man's greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.” If nations do not unite he treasures of earth may be but a distant memory. A world without a rainforests would see an end . If nothing is done to save the rainforest the shrubbery that created the illusion of endless night will be gone , Earth will lose those species that made the rainforests such a diverse eco-system.. The rainforest is a treasure in its self yet, we continue to tarnish it. Only time will tell what will become of this divine paradise.

No comments:

Post a Comment