Destroying Our Future

Every day an average of two football field sizes of precious rainforest are torn down, killing millions of animals and destroying valuable pharmaceutical plants. A huge amount of these animals and plants have never, and will never be discovered. Experts say, "Close to eighty percent of the terrestrial species of animals and plants are to be found there [in the rainforest],." As people tear down the rainforests they are affecting the ozone layer, and disrupting the process that lets plants fight the deadly amount of pollution the world produces every day.

Over three thousand plants found can help the fight against cancer. Seventy percent of these plants are found in the rainforest. Periwinkle is a very essential plant that produces the drug Vincristine that is the most powerful cancer-fighting drug that has been discovered as of today. Scientists say, "Vincristine is used as a part of MOPP chemotherapy regimen, and has helped increase the rate of remission in acute childhood leukemia from twenty percent to ninety percent.." The periwinkle plant is only found in rainforest regions. Imagine not having access to this drug anymore because all of the rainforests in the world have been torn down. The world may never find a cure to cancer, one of the most common and deadliest diseases known to man if the rainforests and the plants within them continue to be destroyed.

There are thousands of other plants in the rainforest that have not been discovered yet. Specialists say, ."..sixty five to seventy-five percent of higher plant species are indigenous to rainforests,." If the populace tears down all of the rainforests, only fifteen to twenty-five percent of the vital plants we depend on will be left in the world. Cornell biologist Thomas Eisner estimates that "less than two percent have been explored for their medicinal potential,."

Every day the world looses an average of one hundred thirty seven species of animals in the rainforest due to the demolition. At that rate, the planet looses fifty one thousand and five species a year. Most species of these animals will become extinct before they are even discovered. The world then looses the chance to learn about all of the amazing and fascinating animals that live in the canopies of the rainforest, because of the destruction.

The mass murder of these helpless and innocent animals is incredibly unjust and cruel. Fifty one thousand and five species of these innocent creatures are killed per year, just so that the world can obtain wood. Wood can always be obtained from other places besides rainforest regions such as forests that do not have any endangered animals or plants living in them. There is no point in killing these poor, helpless animals when there are many alternative options.

As the rainforests are being torn down, enormous amounts of carbon dioxide are being released into the air. This triggers the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is when gasses are released into the air that cause holes in our ozone layer, which allows hazardous rays of sunshine through it and onto the earth. This is why every year it seems to get hotter and hotter in the summer. When the rays of sunshine come through and onto our earth, it makes it warmer, just like it would a greenhouse. When this happens, the ice caps in the ocean melt which causes the sea level to rise and will eventually cause flooding all over the world. These sunrays are also hazardous to our skin, and harmful UV (ultra violet) rays cause deadly skin cancers, and kills plants.

Every second of a person's life, since the moment they were born, they have breathed in oxygen that the trees produce. When a person breathes in oxygen, they breathe out carbon dioxide, which the trees take in and turn into oxygen. The trees also take in all of the bad carbon dioxide that the world releases every day from the incredible amount of pollution, and makes the air clean and breathable, and lessens the greenhouse effect. With all of the trees in the rainforest being torn down, eventually we will have an extremely small amount of them left in the world.

Experts say, "Less than fifty percent of the original tropical rainforests of the world are left, and at the present rate of destruction almost all will be gone by 2050," The world will be losing millions of animals, valuable pharmaceutical plants, and trees to produce oxygen. The ozone layer will then be destroyed, and deadly UV rays will shine down on us every day, causing skin cancer. The air will be filled with poisonous carbon dioxide because there will not be enough trees to use it to produce clean oxygen. The world will no longer have the drug Vincristine anymore because the rainforests will be gone and the periwinkle plant will be extinct. The world will never be able to learn about the amazing animals that were once hidden in the rainforests, because they will all be wiped out before we are able to discover them. The world is destroying the future for their descendants.