Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Rainforest Destruction in Brazil

     I think that the picture showing the the rainforest being burned down was the most effective. The picture was taken in Brazil. There is a large thick cloud of smoke hanging over the remains of many trees. The photo makes me think about all the undiscovered plants and animals that were lost in the fire. Many of our pharmaceutics come from plants. One of the plant species that was destroyed could contain a compound that could treat an otherwise incurable disease. The picture combined with the writing makes it look like burning the rainforest is a huge waste of some very precious commodities. 
     I feel that the strongest passage was when the author estimated what the could happen to the rainforest in the future. "Within forty years the entire Amazon rainforest could disappear entirely, and with it the last 200,000 indigenous tribespeople- a population decimated from the estimated ten million who lived there five centuries ago- in addition to a massive loss of biodiversity as plants and animals become extinct." I like this passage because it helps give the audience a somewhat concrete idea of what could happen. It is hard for people to imagine exactly how much destruction there is when it is being measured in acres. It is very easy for people to understand when it is clearly stated that all of the Amazon rainforest could be destroyed. 
     I like nature because it is complex and beautiful. The diversity of nature is amazing. There are also many things that are still unknown about nature. There are biological processes that we don't understand or have never seen. The mystery of it makes it interesting. 

9 comments:

  1. it's scary to think about what we are doing to our home sometimes

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  2. Yes it is sad that there was a fire that destroyed the plants and animals. But this is part of the cycle and there are the same plants and animals some where else in the world.

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    2. There are many species that can only be found in small and specific areas. These species are called endemic species. The entire species could be contained in a relatively small region. If we destroy the one area where they can live, then they would almost certainly become extinct. In some cases, we cannot simply find, "...the same plants and animals somewhere else in the world." It should also be noted that it is estimated that we have classified less than one quarter of all the plant and animal species on Earth. It is likely that there are over five million species left to be discovered and named. This means that there could be a huge number of species that go extinct without anyone even noticing. Extinction is part of the natural cycle, but extinction due to the unregulated destruction of habitat is not part of the cycle. Anyone of the thousands of plants that have yet to be discovered could hold the cure for cancer or any number of other diseases, but we may never know if we allow countless species to go extinct every year.

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  3. I agree theres a lot to learn from nature. Burning down a rainforest prevents us from learning fascinating things.

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  4. So many animals and plants died which is so sad!

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  5. i choose the same topic as you and i think is very important to foucs more in our nature.

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  6. It's really sad how we don't cherish nature and all that it offers!

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  7. That fire happened in there i think many animals die i feel so sorry it is enemies fire.

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