This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at FSU chapter.
Oftentimes from a young age, people are roughly taught to respect nature and handle our Earth with care. Even with this ideal, experts have expressed for thousands of years, that human activities are killing our planet and will soon destroy it altogether if action isn’t taken by all immediately. These cries for help and action are taken less seriously as the human population grows, placing this issue on the backburner in terms of governments taking action. Without governments taking action over the years, places like the Amazon Rainforest have been suffering.
Photo by Kleber Varejão Filho from Unsplash
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest in the world. Roughly two-thirds of this rainforest is located in Brazil while the rest of the forest ground spans eight other countries in South America. Studies have found that in the last 50 years, Brazil’s Amazon has lost nearly a fifth of its forest cover. This is due to individuals and large corporations profiting from the deforestation of the land. Once cleared, this land is most often used for cattle ranches. Although this seems beneficial for Brazil’s economy as a rapidly developing country, this practice does more harm than good in the present and long term.
Photo by Dave Herring from Unsplash
The Amazon Rainforest is not only a source of oxygen and a carbon sink but also home to about 10 million species, including various animals, plants, insects and also humans. With deforestation, these ecosystems and habitats are being taken away. When this happens, the food chain is disrupted, and entire species are now in danger of becoming extinct. Although animals are incapable of fighting for their livelihood against humans and government policies, the indigenous tribes that also call the Amazon their home, have stated they will “fight to the death” to protect the land and species which live there.
Photo by Andrés Medina from Unsplash
As there are roughly 800,000 individuals and over 400 isolated tribes living in this rainforest, they can thrive off of the environment that surrounds them. These groups, once divided, shared that the internal altercations of the past matter none to the present and more pressing issues that they now face. “Today, we have only one enemy” the Kayapó tribe leader explained to BBC while expressing that the shared interest of fighting for their land and rights to live, has brought even the biggest of rival groups, together. Together, their fight is against government leaders in Brazil that show a lack of respect for the Amazonians that reside and thrive off of the natural world, as they push for these groups to live with the other members of society, a more Westernized experience.
Photo by Matt Howard from Unsplash
The deforestation of this beloved rainforest is so overlooked that people have been able to buy out plots of land through Facebook marketplace ads. Seen with a hidden camera, an individual that recently took it upon himself to burn down a section of the rainforest, stated that there was “no risk of an inspection by state agents here.” Sellers are recognizing the lack of care government officials give to this land and have come up with more and more ways to take advantage of that and use this land for personal gain.
