To start, rainforests are the lungs of our Earth. The Amazon rainforest itself produces around 20% of our oxygen. Furthermore, they are natural carbon sinks meaning they absorb the carbon dioxide we put in our atmosphere. Jeff Tollefsen, an author from “Nature Magazine”, talks about how by stopping deforestation, Brazil has lowered their carbon dioxide output by 70%. They hope to be at 80% by 2020. Correspondingly, by stopping deforestation of rainforests we can lower …show more content…
Moreover, rainforests only cover 6% of the Earth but half of the world’s plants and animals live there. In a result, by destroying the rainforest you are taking away habitats of many endangered species. “Science Magazine” writes, “If the Amazon’s destruction continues at its current rate, 57% of its tree species could be at risk of extinction by 2050.” If we do not slow our rate of deforestation, animals, plants, and natives could face an unpredictable doom.
The final reason is that numerous amounts of natural medicines and water are discovered in the rainforest. According to the website “Conserve Energy Future” around ¼ of our medicines can be found in rainforests. In fact, 70% of those are used in treating cancers. That means deforestation could cause many natural medicines to become scarce or wasted. To continue, about 20% of our freshwater is produced by rainforests. Fresh drinking water is vital in human sustainability (p. 1-2). Rainforest deforestation puts many crucial aspects of sustainability in