Let’s take care of the environment, don’t destroy it
Protecting the the Amazon rainforest has become an important mission for the environmentalists. The Amazon rainforest is a huge region of about 6.7 million km2, covering parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The Amazon has at least 10% of the worlds biodiversity and it’s the worlds biggest rainforest. Many parts of the Amazon are still unexplored and many species of plants, animals end even tribes are undiscovered or uncontacted. The Amazon rainforest and it’s many species are under a threat, and most likely they will stay forever undiscovered.
One of the tribes that is still uncontacted and lives here in Ecuador, in Yasuni National Park, is called Tagaeri y Taromenane. The Tagaeri y Taromenane tribe is under a threat because a petrol company, Petroamazonas, is planning to work on the area and the drilling is going to pollute the lands. Oil drilling in the Yasuni National Park might start as early as 2016, the permission for the oil drilling in the area has already been signed.
The devastation and exploitation of the Amazon rainforest is going on all the time and the Amazon rainforest is shrinking on an alarming speed. Biggest threats for the Amazon rainforest are:
- cattle ranching, trees are cut down to make fields
- soy farming, soy is cultivated to feed the cattle
- gold mining
- oil exploration
- illegal logging
- over fishing
The destruction is affecting everything, the plants, the animals, the indigenous people living in the forest, the river system, everything, even you as the Amazon is considered the lungs of the world. Many species are gone and they were never even found.
Water is the essence of life, protect it!
As Edward Osborne Wilson, an entomologist and biologist and a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize wrote (Wikiquote) in the 80’s:
“The worst thing that can happen during the 1980s is not energy depletion, economic collapse, limited nuclear war, or conquest by a totalitarian government. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired within a few generations. The one process ongoing in the 1980s that will take millions of years to correct is the loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly that our descendants are least likely to forgive us.”
A green tree you cut today, is going to be the air missing from your children tomorrow
You can take your part in protecting the rainforest with few simple steps:
- Don’t buy Brasilia beef
- Don’t buy furniture made of tropical wood
- Use less paper
- Use less oil
- Support organizations that are working on protecting the nature
- Ecotourism gives jobs and income for the people living in the area and supports the efforts of preserving wild areas
- Teach your children about the nature and the importance of the environment
Our mistake was to believe that the earth belongs to us, when actually we belong to the earth
The pictures in this post are taken from a Pacifico Cembranos high school’s fence in Nueva Loja, Ecuador. Nueva Loja is one of the most important cities in Ecuador, because of oil extraction. The messages from these paintings are clear, the children’s are hoping for a greener future. I am hoping too, that when my daughter is an adult she can enjoy the beauty of the nature and has fresh air to breath, these things that are still obvious for us. Maybe in the future going to a forest will become a luxury that only the rich people can afford.
What is the message you want to send for the next generation?
I love my planet
More information about the exploration and protection of the Amazon rainforest can be found from the links. Let’s protect the Amazon rainforest and give a green planet for the next generation!
