Destruction

75 acres of rainforest are destroyed per minute!

All of the tropical rainforests are like warm, wet wonderlands of strange animals and green leaves.  Scientists believe that more that half of all the species of plants and animals in the entire world live in the rainforest.

There are some rainforest plants and animals that are still unknown to scientists.  Some of them may never be known, because they are disappearing right along with the rainforests themselves.

The world's tropical rainforests cover a huge area, perhaps seven % of our world's land.

Many of the tropical countries that have rainforests need more open land.  Rainforests are bulldozed or burned down to make room for houses, farms, roads and many other things like that.

Most of the remaining rainforests are not protected.  Each nation is allowed to use its rainforests as much as it wants.  Many nations believe that rainforests are better "dead" than "alive".  For example, a country can make quick money selling rainforest trees for lumber.

 Rainforests are destroyed by logging and all of the trees are cut down.  Logging can be done very carefully by cutting only the best trees and leaving the  bad ones to stay in the rainforest to grow.

The tropical rainforest has an impact on Earth that reaches way beyond it's forests borders.  Consider the high humidity in the tropical rainforest. That moisture escapes into the atmosphere, earth's blanket of air.  Moisture in the atmosphere is very healthy.  When tropical rainforests are destroyed, weather patterns may change on earth.

No one knows exactly how many acres of rainforests are destroyed each year.  We do know that it is way too much for the plants, the animals plus you and me.