posted July 20, 2004 10:07 AM         

They're, not only breathtakingly beautiful, but they are invaluble in sustaining life on our planet. They only cover a small area of the globe (about 2%), however about 50 million people reside there, not including all plant, animal and insect species! Rainforests indirectly provide about a quarter of the world's modern medicine supply too, with over two thousand plants representing anti-cancer treatments.

Many items of our food originally came from there, such as; bananas, pineapples, oranges, lemons, coconuts, cashews, peanuts, corn, rice, avocados, onions, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, ginger, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa, kola nut (which is used to flavor cola drinks) and chocolate!

The link shows where the rainforests actually are in the world;
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/where.html

They also provide vital functions by absorbing water and slowly releasing it into our world's water ways;

quote:

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"Within rainforests, large amounts of water are constantly circulating in hydrological cycles that regulate the balance of regional climates."

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Ecosystems have been playing on my mind for some time now, as does extinction of species within these environments. I'm still developing ideas that will be useful to the environment. Hopefully really useful, but they're in baby stages. Here's one thing to do now though, by a click on the Rainforest Site
http://www.therainforestsite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites

If anyone has anything to add at all, it'll be useful, since it's something else I really care about. I still don't know half of what I should know about this, however I'm still learning and will tackle one thing at a time!

Love Sheaa

posted August 09, 2004 01:55 PM         

However, Deep I had the impression that the much of the planet's oxygen would come from rainforests - I think it's something vauguely imprinted from a science / history lesson baaaack in the day at school for me!

Thanks for your two cents Dorkus!

Speaking about Oxygen, everyone - here's a 'Gia - like' link for you http://www.oxygengiveslife.com/

If you're reading this Gia, whaddya think?

Moi

posted August 21, 2004 11:16 PM         

Have you read "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins? If not, ***please*** do so. You will be especially interested in Chapter 14, titled "Once Upon a Planet".

I will type in a few facts from page 257:

WHAT WE KNOW
Number of species of birds in 1 square mile of Amazon Rainforest: more than exist in all of North America.
Life forms destroyed in the production of each fast-food hamburger made from rainforest beef: members of 20-30 different plant species, 100 differrent insect species, and dozens of bird, mammal and reptile specis.
Length of time before the Indonesian rainforests, all 280 million acres of them, would be completely gone if they were cleared to produce enough beef for Indonesians to eat as much beef, per person, as people of the U.S. do: 3.5 years.
Length of time before the Costa Rican rainforest would be completely gone if it were cleared to produce enough beef for the people of Costa Rica to eat as much beef, per person, as the people of the U.S. eat: 1 year.
What a hamburger produced by clearing forest in India would cost if the real costs were included in the price rather than subsidized: $200.

posted August 23, 2004 10:06 PM         

(I don't know)

posted August 24, 2004 06:47 AM         

Nephthys - I will definitly look that book up.. since posting this I have visited Dr Terry Moore's animal sanctuary for wildcats, in Hertfordshire, on Sat 21/08. It's an amazing place. We discussed future plans for rainforests and he informed Oli & I about his project in Argentina right now, where one of his cherry trees has produced a pipless cherry!!

It's strange, lots of things have been coincidental recently. The sanctuary's near Luton where my mother lived, when I last saw her, (lost contact with her 15 years ago) and arriving at Luton station on Saturday, I thought.. well I just thought! I'll have to keep you guys informed on that one!

I've learnt lots of interesting things already from Dr Terry. I haven't the leaflet with me at work, or would post the details of the website address etc. That's the thing you see.. I can't start this fully until I quit the dayjob, and I can't quit the dayjob since I need to pay the overheads!!

Apologies, these posts are somewhat rushed, most of the time I reply at work y'see, and can't elaborate. I'll keep ya'll posted

posted August 24, 2004 12:34 PM         

In British Columbia, many of the First Nations (Native Americans) have settled land claims with the government and control over some of their traditional lands has been returned to them.

One relatively small (population-wise) First Nation on the Western coast of BC has a rather large area of traditional use lands. That area contains about 85% of the remaining old growth northern rainforest in the world. A company called Weyerhaeuser wants to completely log 60% of that forest in the next 10 years. In fact, they have pulled every trick in the book to try to gain access to this last remaining area of towering cedars. The little First Nations group won't give in and won't give them the rights to do what they want. The giant timber company has offered the group tens of millions of dollars (maybe more for all I know). They didn't accept the money. They said, "What use will money be after our land has been savaged and our waterways polluted?" But still the fight goes on. I don't think any of the major environmental groups are even involved in this specific issue because I don't think they know about it yet. The person who told me is connected to the tribe, so has inside info.

posted August 26, 2004 07:42 AM         

It seems, as much as people are trying to save systems and help the world.. there's always something lurking to destroy it They have to realise that if the rainforests don't survive, then for much longer, neither will we.

Rainforests are essential to regulating our environment - it's believed over half the Earth's rainfall is stored in the Amazon! Rainforests continually recycle huge quantities of water, giving it to rivers, lakes and irrigation systems - without them droughts will be more common, bringing with it famine and disease, (Ethiopia )

Trees are imperitive to our environment - they absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale and turn it to oxygen we need to breathe.. when rainforests are burnt, carbon dioxide is released which contributes to global warming. Already this is noticable with our erratic weather patterns recently. Here in England this year, we've had bright sun, heavy wind, hailsones, part of Charley passed our way recently, bringing torrential rain in the middle of summer. Trees are being destroyed so fast it's alarming.

They've provided homes to people, animals, insects & plant species for thousands of years, as I mentioned in my first post - food & medicines.

I've forwarded your feedback to Dr Terry Moore in an email. Thanks again, info from around the world helps tremendously.

My thoughts are with the People of Orca

posted August 27, 2004 07:02 AM         

I found a quote by Erica Jong;

quote:

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Do you want me to tell you something really subversive? Love is everything it's cracked up to be. That's why people are so cynical about it. It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for. And the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more.

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Ahh, it relates to everything!