First Stop: Why is the Amazon Rainforest Important?
Amazon.
Did you think of the company or ecosystem first? As tempting as it is to write about my opinions on the Jeff Bezos global domination, I'll instead write about the importance of the Amazon Rainforest and the dangers it faces due to human impact.
The Amazon is actually one of the few ecosystems on Earth that most everyone knows about, but I'll explain exactly what it is anyway. Also known as the Amazon Jungle or Amazonia (I prefer the former as "Amazonia" sounds like Amazon inc's twisted version of Disneyland), the Amazon Rainforest is a tropical rainforest located in the Amazon Basin, which covers over 7 million sq km in South America's Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela. I know this may be an obvious or general description; if it makes it even more obvious, I'll just say that it's the forest that's constantly on the news because it's been on fire for like, a whole decade.
Of the many problems the Amazon has, wildfires have been one of the most destructive. Analysts estimate around 25% of the forest has burned/is burning, and there is clear data to show that the rate of wildfires is increasing each year. According to NASA, about 1.4 million hot spots (categorized into deforestation, savanna grassland, understory, small clearing agricultural) were recorded last year. This is an increase of 3 million from the previous year.
This all probably sounds like it's leading into a blame game (which I mean, yeah, it kinda is), but I encourage you to read on. I'll even acknowledge the fact that some of the Amazon wildfires occur naturally and have no correlation with human activity. Notice in the last paragraph, the categories of hot spots weren't all caused by human impact. Fires do naturally occur in woodland areas. However, even Mother Nature can't create over a million fires in a year. Deforestation due to agricultural purposes and infrastructure development is the primary reason for the Amazon fires. This, combined with the drought-prone climate of the region, leads to an increase in fires each year.
So, what can we do? As I've said, the Amazon is a well-known situation. But what kind of positive impact can be made without understanding the importance of the Amazon Rainforest first? As climate change, deforestation, and other conservation issues worsen, it'll be crucial for people, especially younger generations, to be aware.
Sadly, when you get more pictures of Amazon's CEO in a spaceship than headlines of the Amazon burning, it's likely that the next generations will know more about the company than the ecosystem.
Actually, at the rate the Amazon is burning, there might not even be a forest to learn about in a few decades.
But if we work together and are willing to learn, that won't happen. The first step is to understand the role the Amazon plays in the world. There's a reason why this ecosystem is called "the lungs of the world"; the 390 billion trees take in over 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, converting it to breathable oxygen for the rest of the Earth. With the human carbon footprint growing exponentially every year, the Amazon becomes more and more significant to the Earth's well-being.
There are thousands of ecosystems in the Amazon itself, and it's also home to millions of species (several of which I will write about) Many of these species are endangered, and if we lose the Amazon Rainforest, we lose the rich diversity of life this planet offers. Balance is essential to health; in this situation, the more species lost due to deforestation, the more unstable earth's ecosystems become.
In addition, the Amazon helps preserve other ecosystems. Much of the Amazon's rainfall is produced by itself, and it exchanges tons of rainwater with the atmosphere every day. This encourages the process of evapotranspiration (water being transferred from land to air), which maintains river and ocean currents, therefore, preventing climate change.
It's hard to write a conclusion to this because there's just so much to write about when it comes to the Amazon. I'm kinda a perfectionist, and it really bothers me to leave this article off where I left it, but if I don't wrap this up now, I'll never finish, and this just proves how much there is to talk about. So, with that, I'm concluding this article by encouraging everyone to continue learning about the Amazon. The more we know, the more we'll understand, and then, hopefully, we'll all take more action to preserve and protect. In this series, I'll spotlight several species I believe are representative of the Amazon Rainforest, and I'll also include fast fact posts on other cool creatures as well.
Enjoy!
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