BY CHARLOTTE KARN
I made this blog to educate students on the importance of the rain forest.
Rain forests used to cover fourteen percent of the land on earth now rain forest only cover six percent of land on earth. (http://www.raintree.com/facts.htm)
A rain forest is a very humid forest along the equator that gets a lot of rain. The kind of environment in which a species or type of animal is normally found. (www.nsrl.ttu.edu/TMOT1/glossary.htm)
You can find more plant and animal species in the rain forest than you can find anywhere else in the world. (Goodman, Billy. The Rain forest. ISBN O-316-32019-6) A rain forest is lush and beautiful with many shades of green.
The impacts of the Amazon rain forest being destroyed are things like soil erosion, and water pollution. The human action of these impacts is things like deforestation, slash and burn farming techniques and mining.
I picked these pictures because they represent soil erosion, water pollution & mining.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alarch/308587800/
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Water_pollution.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soil_Erosion_With_Roots.JPG
What is happening when we are not environmentally friendly?
Soil erosion
A tree's roots hold the soil in place. When trees are cut down there is nothing to hold the soil in place. When soil is washed away from the rain and all that’s left is sand it's called soil erosion. When soil erosion happens crops die and people that where living on those crops die too.
Toxic metals
Toxic metals from gold mining pollutes rivers in the Amazon region. Polluted rivers poisons people's resources, animals, plants, species of fish and trees. Rives lead to oceans and it could all this to the other places too.
What did we do?
Deforestation
Deforestation is when big parts of forest are being cut down. Deforestation changes the weather, increases the chance of floods and droughts. When deforestation happens it also louses plants and animal speeches and that is dangerous.
Photo by: Ken Wightman
This picture intended to show:
(This field behind the CPRI buildings in the west end of London, Ontario is not usually considered bear country but Tuesday London police killed a bear in the area after it charged an officer.)
Photo by: Ken Wightman
“a black bear wandering the streets of London was shot and killed yesterday by police in the southwestern Ontario city , London. It charged at a police officer soon after, the bear shot and killed because it posed “a danger to the community”.
National Post Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Slash & Burn
Slash & burn is when people cut down tress and then burn down the bush. Nomads are people how farm in one place and then when the crop is finished the move again. Nomads are the people who attempt slash and burn to clear the land but nomads are not the only one who use slash and burn industries get some of their supplies from the rain forest too.
Miners are people who look for things like gold and coal. The problem is that. When gold miners mine it releases stuff like toxic metals into the water which can destroy the Amazon environment.
Reflection
Conservationists think we should protect the rain forest because of the many different animals & plants. (“Scientists think that ten million different species (types) of plants & animals live on earth. The rain forests are home two-thirds of these.”)
Farmers cut down the rain forest for money to feed their family. (“The basic motive for cutting down the rain forest is profit. Many tropical countries are poor. (The Rain Forest, Page 76, Troubles In the Rain Forest.))
I feel that it is important that we protect all rain forests.
What can we do?
Educate everyone about the importance of protecting the rain forest.
Plant trees everywhere you are allowed.
Stop buying gold so the miners will go out of business and no longer cut down the rain forest or pollute the water in the Amazon rain forest.
Bibliography
Books
Morgan, sally. Saving The Rain Forest isbn*978-1-59771-065-7
Goodman, Billy. The Rain forest. ISBN O-316-32019-6
Thompson, Colin, The Tower to the Sun, ISPN 0-679-8834-7
Web site
http://www.zoomschool.com/subjects/rainforest
http://www.raintree.com/facts.htm
