This week, I’d like to talk about a topic that is probably one of the first to come to people’s minds when they thinking of the exploitation of our world’s most needed resources: The Deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest.

Over the past four decades, nearly 20% of the largest rainforest on Earth has been destroyed for its lucrative timber and land. Additionally, scientists now fear that another 20% is expected to be depleted in the coming three decades. If this happens, the already crippling ecology and ecosystem of the forest will completely implode.

Even now, the rainforest has begun to lose its ability to produce its own rainfall, thus desiccating the trees and depriving its inhabitants and biome of an essential element of rainforests. The humidity levels have begun decreasing and as the rain levels continue to plummet, the danger of natural wildfires has increased to become a very possible reality.

Additionally, as trees are shameless burned to create more land, the Brazilian regions of Mato Grosso, Acre, and Rondonia have become one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases in the world. Isn’t it ironic how the very land that was once the major source (it still is, but to a much lesser degree) of vital gases is now among the largest producers of harmful ones?

Now, some people argue that although this destruction is terrible, those who are responsible for the destruction of the rainforest are not to be directly blamed. It may be thought that the people cutting down our Earth have “no choice”, and that “their livelihoods depend on it”. While this may be true to a certain extent, the sheer voracity and inhumanity with which the land is depleted is beyond any means of justifying what they are doing. Heck, even the techniques with which the trees are cut are not even efficient. Additionally, the communities native to the Amazon region such as the Yanomamo and Kayapo people have in fact lived in peace with the absolutely beautiful Amazonian surroundings for hundreds of years. They are currently the ones who are, as a matter of fact, trying to preserve their vanishing world.

Those who are really destroying the environment of the Amazon are those who are not native to the place, feel nothing for it, and see it only as a goldmine for land and natural resources.

Additionally, many people fail to realize that by this destruction, we are not only hurting ourselves, but also the peaceful inhabitants of the rainforest itself. We as predators of the land are solely responsible for the murder, displacement, and extinction of numerous species that have called the Amazon their home for thousands of years.

According to the deforestation rate of the forest, about 80%-90% of the expected extinctions of the Amazon’s biodiversity have yet to happen. This is grave news when taking into account the number of harm we have caused to indigenous species like the Golden Lion Tamarin Monkey, Poison Dart Frog, Harpy Eagle, and Jaguar, not to mention thousands of species of flora.

The Golden Lion Tamarin Monkey

Poison Dart Frog

The Harpy Eagle

The Jaguar