zilian rainforest there are an estimated 750 species of trees, 125 species of animals, 100 species of reptiles, and 400 species of birds (RPN p.2)! And yet in only twenty minutes a logger can cut down a 33-foot wide, 1,000 year old tree that could be home to over 300 individual animals (RPN p.2)! Many of the species of animals in the world are found in the rainforest and there are thousands more we have not yet discovered. Through the deforestation process we are actually losing many species before they are discovered. Animals are not the only things being lost to the chainsaws of logging companies. The world’s most important resources are also being cut down. Eighty percent of the earth’s vegetation comes from the rainforests, and therefore food that can benefit all the peoples of the earth. As American farmland is being cleared for additional housing the government is looking to import food from other sources. Food harvested from the rainforest (by those who do not harm the forest with their farming) is actually cheaper to purchase and therefore would equal more economic growth for our country. In addition to food many plants, there are rarely known treatments for diseases located in the rainforests that can be exported to countries all around the world (Smitherson, p.125). And a few scientists in Africa have claimed to find a cancer-killing plant in the heart of the forests (Smitherson, p.128)! The way many scientists find the source of these pharmaceuticals is from the medicine men. The medicine men are usually indigenous tribe leaders with an expert knowledge of plants and herbs. It has been said, “When a medicine man dies, it is as though a library has burned down (Hyperion, p.2).” The problem is that as indigenous tribes are being forced out of the forest, the medicine man tradition is dying off. The biggest concern of all is the oxygen supply that is found in the rainforest. Fifty per...
