Going…going…
- Long ago, rainforests covered about 14% of the earth. Now? Only 6% remains
- 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest
- More than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live amid the rainforests
- 1/5th of the world’s fresh water is found in the Amazon Basin
- Just 2 and 1/2 acres of rainforest have 750 types of trees and 1500 species of plant life
- More than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects inhabit rainforests. That’s more than half of the worlds species
The Destructor! Greed and Politics
- Experts believe the rainforest will be gone in less than 40 years.
- Deforestation occurs because of man’s need for lumber and to clear land for grazing cattle ( which is evidently more profitable)
- Every single day 137 plant, animal, and insect species are destroyed
- For the math minded that’s 50,000 species a year
Mother Nature Provides: Man Destroys
- As the rainforests are destroyed, so too are the cures for countless diseases
- At this time, 121 prescription drugs come from plants
- This might blow your mind: Pharmaceutical companies get about 25% of their ingredients from the rainforest AND YET ONLY 1% of the total of rainforest life has been tested!!
People of the Rainforest
- 500 years ago there were approximately 10 million indigenous peoples living in the Amazonian Rainforest.
- Today, their population has plummeted to less than 200,000.
- The knowledge of their shamans, who know the medicinal value and properties of the plants and creatures, will also be lost forever
- The average age of a rainforest shaman? 70
- Love fruit? The rainforest has 3000 kinds of fruits. The western world uses about 200. Rainforest indians use over 2,000.
Got Cures?
- 2100 cancer-fighting rainforest plants have been identified by the US National Cancer Institute
- 25% of the active ingredients found in cancer-fighting drugs come from rainforest organisms
- Vincristine, found in Periwinkle, a most powerful anticancer drug, is used to combat childhood leukemia
- Just 30 years ago, US drug companies were no where to be found in the rainforest. Today, all the biggies –and even the US government–are researching the medicinal properties found in plants
