rth. As biologist Norman Meyers notes, “Rainforests are the finest celebration of nature as ever known on the planet, and never before has nature’s greatest orchestration been so threatned.”(4) His quote is quite true. The following facts listed are direct proof of how the Tropical Rainforests are being depleted. Global Rates of Destruction 2.4 acres per second: equivalent to two U.S. football fields 149 acres per minute 214,000 acres per day: an area larger than New York City 78 million acres per year: an area larger than Poland In Brazil 5.4 million acres per year 6-9 million indigenous people inhabited the Brazilian rainforest in 1500. In 1992, less than 200,000 Species Extinction Distinguished scientists estimate and average of 137 species of life forms are driven into extinction every day or 50,000 each year. While you were reading the above statistics, approximately 90 acres of rainforest were destroyed. Within the next hour approximately six species will become extinct. While extinction is a natural process, the alarming rate of extinction today, comparable only to the extinction of the dinosaurs, is specifically human-induced and unpreceeded. Experts agree that the number one cause of extinction is habitat destruction. Quite simply, when habitat is reduced, species disappear. In the Rainforests, logging, cattle ranching, mining, oil extraction, and hydroelectric dams all contribute to rainforest destruction and produce many undesired effects in the environment such as global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, and depletion of the earth’s natural resources. But now, there may be some help for the rainforest. Until recently, few vacationers would even dream of visiting a rainforest. But travelers are now abandoning the traditional beach vacation to visit remote, unspoiled areas all over the world. They try to avoid the fast pace and congestion of the traditional tourist centers,...
