Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Battle For The Amazon


The Battle For The Amazon Heats Up Again -- Time

The Amazon rainforest is the most important patch of land on the planet. The trees have been called the lungs of the Earth and that's far more than just a metaphor: they absorb more than 2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, return oxygen in exchange and help regulate the climate of the Western Hemisphere in the process. The forest itself is the hottest of biodiversity hotspots, home to countless species of plants and animals that we have yet to discover — and even tribes of indigenous human beings who have never been contacted by the outside world. There's a reason that "save the rainforest" became a default slogan for environmentalism in the 1980s; saving the Amazon really did mean helping to save the planet.

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My Comment:
They have been talking about deforestation in the Amazon basin for decades. But it appears that after decades of development .... the impact that is now beginning to be felt everywhere.

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