What Can We Do?

What can you do to save the Amazon?
Well,

Donate to conservation groups. These are dedicated organizations working to preserve some of the natural beauty of the Amazon. Some of the more high profile groups weild a lot of power in the economic and industry circles of today. They include:

Green Peace,

Amazon Conservation Team (ACT),

Amazon International,

Amazonwatch,

APECA, Inc.,

and Buy the Rainforest.

Limit your beef consumption. This reduces the multiple pressures put on the environment by cattle in cleared South American forests. For example, habitat is destroyed for ranches and pollution is released into the atmosphere when beef is transported.

If you purchase an exotic pet, make sure that it is captive-bred, not wild caught in the Amazon. One of the largest threats to the Amazon's unique ecosystem is loss of animals via the illegal pet trade. The species that are targeted the hardest are popular pets such as parrots, snakes and tarantulas.

Links

These are some links to sites where you can read more about deforestation, local people and the ecology of the Amazon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Rainforest
This is the wikipedia article for the Amazon rainforest. It discusses deforestation in great depth, and has a lot of links.

http://www.eduweb.com/amazon.html
This is an interesting website involving particularly the Ecuadorian rainforest. There is also a fun game where you run an ecotourism buisness.

http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1026-brazil.html
Did you know that the rate of Amazon deforestation has dropped forty-one percent since 2004? Read About it on this page!

http://www.amazonwatch.org/
Amazonwatch is an organization that works toward allowing the indigenous peoples of the Amazon take matters into their own hands and protecting the Amazon as a whole. They run many different individual projects in the Amazon region.

Peoples of the Amazon

The peoples native to the Amazon basin include the Yanomami (the largest tribe), the Cablocos, the Manioc, the Witoto and the Kaiapo. The following is a short movie clip about the way of life of just one family of modern peruvian Amazon peoples: the Shuar family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqGhBWVHQSw

David Suzuki and the Amazon Rainforest

This is an article on davidsuzuki.org that discusses the Amazon rainforest and introduces you to a tribe willing to protect it: the Kaiapo. These people have fought to protect their homeland against immenent destruction. Dam-building seems to be their largest concern, as well as various destruction issues.
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/_pvw370829/about_us/dr_david_suzuki/article_archives/weekly03010201.asp

Book Review

Protecting Habitats

By Rufus Bellamy

Protecting Habitats is a book that talks about preserving different habitats around the globe, such as Kaikoura Penninsula in New Zealand, or the Danum Valley Rainforest in Malaysia. It deals with why different ecosystems are important to the world and what is destroying them. This is an intriguing book, and is recommended by the crew here at amazonnotfarms. However, this book does not talk enough about what the reader can do to help the many amazing ecosystems.

Exploring The Issue

The problem is that loggers and farmers are cutting down the Amazon Rainforest. Not only is it one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, it is also responsible for 20% of the earth's oxygen.

Why is it being logged?
Loggers are making roads to get to remote forested areas. Squatters and poor farmers take the roads into the forest, where they clear the land for farms and cattle ranches. Most of the logging that takes place is illegal.
Where is it being logged?
The most land is being cleared in the south and south eastern jungle. This is all in the amazon basin in northern Brazil.
How much is gone already?
Almost 20 % of the rainforest had been cleared already. Scientists believe that 20% more will be cleared within 20 years.