OUR PLEDGE
We believe that the rainforest is a storehouse of treasures, we vow to do everything we can to save it. With the vanishing rainforest goes the future of our planet. We have to be the generation that makes a difference!
RAINFORESTS ARE AN ESSENTIAL RESOURCE
Hike behind the rescue center, Manuel Antonio, Photo by Mary Kline
- Without the rainforest to soak up rain and release it slowly, floods and droughts occur, causing global warming and climate change.
- Many species of birds, animals, and plants who live in the rainforest will be unable to find the right conditions they need in order to live and will become extinct.
- Almost 50% of the prescribed drugs used in the USA come from rainforest plants.
- Leukemia, malaria, and heart diseases are treated with drugs from rainforest plants.
- Indigenous people have thrived in rainforests since the beginning of time, their lives and spirituality are inextricably linked to the plants, animals, and flow of life in this rich environment. Many of them are facing extinction as the rainforests diminish.
Risks to the rainforest
We must change the way we use rainforest lands to keep them rich and verdant, and our atmosphere clean and healthy. To allow the abundance that thrives here be available to future generations. Below are the biggest risks made to the rainforest:
- Farmers burn the rainforest to plant crops, burning the forest releases carbon that causes changes in wind currents and rainfall around the world. Carbon dioxide traps heat in the lower atmosphere, causing global warming, it also adds to the greenhouse effect.
- Loggers cut down trees to make wood for industry and construction.
- Developers cut down rainforests to build homes and businesses.
- Miners discover gold, iron, and oil in rainforests, and destroy the rainforest to make money on selling these products.
- Cattle ranchers cut down rainforests to create grazing land for cows, within 5 years the land is so exhausted that it takes 5 acres to support one cow.
