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Free Essays > Social Issues > THE DESTRUCTION OF MAN KINDWe Know There Will Be Problems In Environmental Terms
THE DESTRUCTION OF MAN KINDWe Know There Will Be Problems In Environmental Terms
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Word Count: 1618
Page Count: 7 THE DESTRUCTION OF MAN KINDWe Know There Will Be Problems In Environmental Terms
THE DESTRUCTION OF MAN KIND"We know there will be problems in environmental terms, manyserious problems, but it is a matter of economics. There won't be anycomplete disaster, and what we cannot solve, well, that's the price we haveto pay." - Eduardo Albuquerque Barbosa There is a constant war that is being fought in the rainforests ofSouth America. The death toll is one that far surpasses any other war inhistory. Vietnam and World War II had minimal loss of life compared to thisnever ending battle. It is predicted that by the year 2020, the casualties willreach 150 per day. This total does not even include the loss of human lifedue to the lack of oxygen and the unsuitable living conditions. Thishorrible scenario would be the result of mankind's failure to cooperate andlive in harmony with the environment, especially the rainforest of SouthAmerica. In the end, the destruction of the rainforests will mean thedestruction of mankind. The devastation of the rainforest may be compared to playing agame of Russian Roulette. One-forth of existing medicines are derivedfrom tropical plants whose homes are in the rainforests of South America. For every acre that is lost in the burning season, there is one acre less thatwe have for possible life saving medicines. About 70 percent of plantsused in anti-cancer drugs come from the rain forest. We are slowlydestroying ourselves and the environment. Whether we realize it or not,the world could quickly come to an ecological halt. Every day 144,000acres of the rainforests are cut down, slashed and/or put up in flames.
In 1974, Brazil started a forest fire of 20.6 million square feet (3,900 squaremiles). The fire ragged out of control and was later marked the largestforest fire in Brazilian history. This 1974 fire is now considered small toothers in the past recent years. On average the burning season lasts up tofour months out of the whole year. During this period of time, it is notuncommon for the majority of South America to be covered in a thickblanket of smoke. The bulk of these fires, when combined, are equivalentto the great inferno of 1988 at Yellow Stone National Park. Emitted fromthese devastating fires every year are billions of carcinogens andpoisonous gases that end up in the atmosphere. The gases and pollutionhave been building for many years, and scientists believe that theatmosphere is due to reach its saturation point very soon. The greed for money and lust for land are just two flames at the heartof the fire. At the expense of innocent lives of rainforest dwelling animalsand local environmentalists, large corporations can some how justify theremurderous means. Rainforests cover only a mere seven percent of theearth's land surface, yet they contain 50 percent of the world's species. Along with the thousands of animals in these century old forests, there aremany tribes of Indians who are subjected to torment and usually deathfrom the large companies. Heartless Corporations such as Endesa,Arboriente and PICOP ignore the blockades of the FPA, "Forest Peoples'Alliance", and the perpetual pleas of the Scientist's who predict, "tropicalspecies are disappearing at a rate that could conceivably reach as high as150 species a day by the year 2020" Landry, (5). Unfortunately this battlecomes down to economics versus environment, and so far the environmentis losing the war. Chico Mendes' death finally brought the much needed world wideattention to the rainforests. Until 1988 the astonishing figures produced byenvironmentalist and scientists never had much weight on the conscienceof countries outside of the Amazon Rain Forest. The death of Mendes wasthe second death of a NCRT, National Council of Rubber Tappers, memberin recent times. The fight, " at first, was only about ecology, and defendingthe fishes, the animals, the forest, and the river. They didn't realize thathumans were also in the forest" Rodrigues, Revkin (1). Though Chico wasa rubber tapper in the town of Xapuri, he spent most of the year travelingaround the world trying to gain support in his fight against the destructionof the rainforest . Chico's non-violent approach won him much favor fromthe United States and all of the other rubber tappers. Chico Mendes oncesaid, "If a messenger came down from heaven and guaranteed that mydeath would strengthen our struggle, it would even be worth it. Butexperience teaches us the opposite. Public rallies and lots of funeralswon't save the Amazon" Revkin (1). Mendes had recently returned homefrom a six week long visit and rally in the United States. Three days beforeChristmas he was shot dead in the doorway of his house. Hundredsattended Chico's funeral, and despite his asking for no flowers, since heknew they wer..
...e going to be picked from the forest, someone left onebouquet on his coffin. Mendes gave his life for the rain forest. In essence,he was the first "Green Martyr" of the Amazon, and hopefully not the last. It is the ruthless logging companies along with the completeignorance of the local peasants and governments that aid in the yearly loss of the hundreds of thousands of acres of essential rainforest. In LatinAmerica cattle ranching for export trade is the chief culprit in rain forestdestruction. The bullheaded ranchers fail to see the effects of their burning the land. After land is burned and raped of the minerals the land becomes dead. These are some of the problems but, " Land degradation caused bygrazing is by far the greatest challenge in Latin America" Caufield, (113). There is a false illusion of an endless rainforest, so every couple of years,the ranchers move on an either try and sell the land or burn more of therain forest and convert it to pastures. The U.S. does not offer much help,the destruction of the rain forests takes five cents off the price of anAmerican hamburger. The United States buys up three quarters off allCentral American beef exports. Perhaps after all there are more criminalsthan we think, the US is also directly responsible for the devastation ofmankind. Maybe the South Americans just support our greediness and"necessity" for food, which the majority of goes to waste. Maybe not, butwe are to immersed in our own fervor to realize that we are digging ourown grave. Despite all of the attacks on the ranchers in the past decade,"it is still good business to clear virgin forest in order to fatten cattle forsay five to eight years and then abandon it" Caufield, (112). The answer toour problem is already known, but we just do not want to listen. Sciencedoes not lie therefore sooner or later mankind will start to feel the majoreffects of rainforest devastation The long term effects from the deforestation of the Amazon arealready showing worldwide. The one major effect is the earth's climate.The "greenhouse effect" is caused by the rise in the level of CO2 in theatmosphere. Eventually this could make the temperature rise five degreesevery couple of years, and in theory cause London and New York to beunder sixteen feet of water. The scientists of the world are not all in agreement on every issue but, "insome way shape or form there will be drastic changes in the climate as adirect result of rainforest destruction" Shiguango, (7). The destruction of40 million acres of rain- forest a year causes a major dent on the speciesliving in these regions. Magnificent and beautiful creatures of God arebeing innocently killed by the destruction of their homes. In the last twentyyears, four major damns have been built in Latin and South America. Themost recent, The Tucurui Dam, is twelve miles long and when filled, thereservoir will destroy 800 square miles of virgin forest and put an end toover 10,000 different species, not including the 9,000 Indians who oncelived at the bottom of the basin. What seems to be a small aspect in ourlife now will have a profound effect in the future. Simple items that we takefor granted now, such as tropical woods, bananas, nuts and othermaterials such as rattan will soon be available in much smaller quantities. The effects of deforestation maybe still inconspicuous to many, but soon itwill start to effect us all in one way or another. Through our own imprudence and default we have let the innocentlives of billions of people and animals, around the world, fall into the handsof cattle ranchers, peasants and government officials. We have yet to learnthat the environment will always promise us life and a future, andeconomics will only keep us happy for a while before it destroys us. Thusthe war between the two has been going on for nearly 200 years, and it isnot close to being over. The distant light at the end of the tunnel is faint. The spreading of knowledge is a slow process that takes many years. Hopefully, if we work together to save the rainforest we can make up forour own negligence and win the war against ourselves.
WORKS CITED 1. Andrew Revkin, The Burning Season (Boston: Houghton Mifflin,1990)
2. Robert M. McClung, Vanishing Wildlife of Latin America (NewYork: William Morrow, 1981)
3. Catherine Caufield, In the Rainforest (New York: Random House,1984)
4. Jamie Shiguango, "An Experiment in Rainforest Conservation"Cultral Survival Quarterly Spring 1988: 56-59
5. Alexander Shankland, "Brazil's BR-364 Highway: A Road ToNowhere" Ecologist July/Aug. 1993: 141-147
6. Sue Landry, " Saving the Rain Forest: A Patch of Hope" St.Petersburg Times 27 Feb. 1994, 1f+(1-14)
The DestructionofMankind...
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Related Keywords: forest, rainforest, years, land, America, world, Mendes, Chico, fire, destruction, war, rainforests, rain, environment, life, free essays, free term papers, free college term papers
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