Rainforests Essay

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By the year 2060, rainforests will be but a dream (facts about the rainforest). The rainforests are the lungs of Earth providing 40% of the world’s oxygen yearly. The world needs to preserve the rainforests because without them our ecosystem will suffer. The rainforests provide the western world with one out of four of the prescription drugs sold today and many valuable resources (contribution of rainforests to mankind). The balance of the ecosystem, water cycle, and carbon dioxide levels depend on the rainforests. Furthermore, rainforests are home to many animals, plants, endangered species, and tribes.
Background:
The rainforests are the world’s oldest ecosystems dating back to almost 100 million years. The largest rainforests are located around the Amazon in South America, around the Equator in Africa, and in South Asia. Smaller rainforests thrive in Central America, Islands on the Pacific and Caribbean, and Mexico. Rainforests maintain a temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and get between 160 to 400 inches of rain per year. The conditions that the Rainforests have are exemplary for life to grow and flourish. The area where the rainforests are located saves them from natural disasters and saved them from the loss of life during the ice ages. Due to these conditions the Rainforest is home to 50-70 million species (Facts about Rainforests). The rainforest’s resources began to be favored by the economy in the early 1990’s.

Ever since then the deforestation for resources has dramatically increased to an alarming rate. Every second we lose an area of two football fields and every week an area twice as big as Rhode Island. The Rainforests once covered fourteen percent of the Earth compared to the two percent now. In the...

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...y different species of animals and plants. Many tribes of Indians call the rainforest their home. They use the resources of the rainforest to survive and thrive as a community. However as rainforests are being destroyed their homes are destroyed and important information is lost about plants and medicine.
Conclusion:
The rainforests are home to many plants, animals, and people. It holds many secrets that are yet to be found by people. Those secrets can be a cure to cancer or new sources of food. It provides the west with a lot of important medicine and resources. The most important resource is oxygen that the rainforest produces. Furthermore, the deforestation of rainforests sets off chain reactions around the world’s ecosystem that affect more than just the rainforest. It is important to save the rainforests because by 2060 there might not be any left to save.

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