As we are momentary guests in this beautiful Earth, we leave a mark behind. The problem is that the print that our ancestor chose to leave behind was one of carelessness and luxury that has only led to a withering and infertal land that will not be able to sustain its future guests for lack of resources. One of these resources that I believe we are carelessly letting it slip of our Earth are the tropical rainforests, wich used to cover 14% of the Earths surface but due to our careless consumption of its derived products, we've reduced that percentage to less than half and according to experts in the course of 40 years we will have push them into extinction.
A small lesson we learned when we were kids states that trees clean the air and decontaminate it in order for us to breath the clean air. But what will happen if for selfish reasons we kill our lungs? Reasons that are not going to make our life better, only easier. The problem is that we are not just threatening our future but endangering the biodiversity of the world. An estimate says that "we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year." Another problem is that over 25% of the medicine used for treating illnesses are derived from the rainforest plants, and that's because they've only tested 1% of the diverse species that exist. Imagine all the pain and suffering that we wouldn't be able to avoid by killing the other 99% of the species?
Some of the things that we cut down trees for are: writting paper, toilet and sanitary paper, furniture, tooth picks, chopsticks, heat, simple commmodity like they take away part of our view, pencils and colored pencils, fashion accesories, etc.. Knowing that we contribute to the masssive destruction of our planet on account of the multi-million companies by just buying and using these products, can you honestly call yourself an ecologically aware human being? Consider your diet; do you enjoy eating sushi which is so healthy and light, or maybe even a big steak and potatoes? Well either way you are not helping the planet unless you are aware of what your choices imply on the well being of the Earth. First of all, in order to transport and feed a cow for you to enjoy you steak, it takes a lot of trees being cut down to turn into both food for the cows and fuel for the trucks. Now, to even out the emmissions of CO2 that a cow makes in a 2-year minumin time which is when they are elegible to be butchered for your consumption, it takes about 150 trees. Imagine 150 trees that put their energy into just cleaning up the air from just the gases of 1 cow! However, healthier options like sushi are not that ecofriendly for all of the wood for the chopsticks is used from the tropical rainforests.
As bad as it sounds, these things have an everyday easy solution. First of all, a healthier and much more eco-freindly alternative, for most foods is going organic on things that you can't get locally and buying from local producers whatever is safe to buy. With this desicion you are not only improving your health by buying things that use less contaminating and harmful pesticides and that are not altered in any way to look bigger or better. Second, it takes less resources to transport them into your local supermarkets. Third, if you go to a sushi restaurant take re-usable chopsticks, they range from $4.94 up to $149 the pair if you want to be a big spender, but you could find them cheaper. "In China, an estimated 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used and thrown away annually. This adds up to 1.7 million cubic metres of timber or 25 million fully grown trees every year." Use your computer and don't print what you don't have to print. Try to re-use writting paper, but specialy try to avoid it if you can.
What is more important than anything, think about how you use the resources around you and how it is that you are affecting the environment. Chosing to ignore the problem is not a solution and it will not help, it's precisely that atittude that got us into this mess without being prepared to give viable and un-contaminating solutions that will help us keep the world and its inhabitants healthy a longer time.
Information can be found in the following links:
http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm
http://openspacerestoration.com/cows-global-warming-and-the-art-of-moodoo-economics/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-149940630.html
http://www.stippy.com/japan-culture/chopstick-economics-and-the-my-hashi-boom/
http://www.thefind.com/kitchen/info-bamboo-chopsticks
