So What?
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So What? | Often described as the Earth’s lungs, only in reverse, the tropical rainforests, take in vast quantities of carbon dioxide (a poisonous gas which mammals exhale) and through the process of photosynthesis, converts it into clean, breathable air. In fact, the tropical rainforests are the single greatest terrestrial source of air that we breathe. What’s truly amazing, however, is that while the tropical rainforests cover just 2% of the Earth's land surface, they are home to two-thirds of all the living species on the planet. Additionally, "nearly half the medicinal compounds we use every day come from plants endemic to the tropical rainforest." If a cure for cancer or AIDS is to be found, it’ll almost certainly come from the tropical rainforests. Norman Myers, in his book, The Primary Source, writes that "tropical rainforests are the Earth’s oldest continuous ecosystems. Fossil records show that the forests of Southeast Asia have existed in more or less their present form for 70 to 100 million years. The intensity of life forms is extraordinary: on the order of 1,000 species per square kilometer. By comparison, here in North America, we might only find 100 species in the same space." |