Maywhoor and more rainforest research

David Maywhoor’s presentation really opened my eyes to the way so many things are related to the forests. I thought it was very interesting when he told us about how most of our projects related to the forest in one way or another. Some things, such as nuclear power, I didn’t see the relation to the forest until he brought it up. During his presentation, I found myself thinking about the way I was raised. My father owns a lumber yard, and we use a wood burning stove to heat our house. I never thought of the environmental impact my family has on the forests. We cut down trees from our own small “forest” we have behind our house and use that wood, but we also plant trees all the time around our property line and in the woods. I didn’t really think about what we can do to help our small woods stay safe for the animals that live in it. David reassured me that my family can help out even if it is just in our backyard, we can do our part to help even when we are using the trees as the main way we heat the house.

While continuing my research about the rainforest, I came across some disturbing facts. One of those is that the rainforest used to cover 14% of the earth’s surface, but now only covers 6%. Research shows that at the rate we consume the rainforest it could be completing gone within the next forty years. This rate is 1.5 acres per second. Another fact I found was that in the next 25 years, nearly half of our plant and animal species will be extinct or in severe danger of becoming extinct. These figures really struck me because in my lifetime I could see the rainforest become a part of the past. I never thought it would happen so quickly.

Something else that really caught my eye was this: 25% of western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients. This 25% comes from less than 1% of the tropical trees and plants that have been tested in the rainforest. This is alarming. It really makes me think about all the other cures that could be hidden in the rainforest that we are destroying so very quickly.