The Brazilian Amazon rainforest keeps a large portion of our planet healthy by recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. The process is pure and has been present for millions of years. Known as “The Lungs of our Planet”, these forests help to control toxins formed by fossil fuels and other pollutants that enter our atmosphere. However, over 25% of the world’s tropical rainforests have been destroyed, risking the sustainability of vegetation and wildlife. The continual clearing away of ground and chopping down timber is lowering the earth’s ability to stay in a healthy balance. As a result, a greenhouse effect is occurring.
Animals and plant life are also being affected by the destruction of their native forest environment. An estimated 137 life forms are sent into extinction each day in the once protected atmosphere of rainforests. Not all species have the ability to adapt to other regions of the world and each time a forest is slashed up for timber, we are creating a death sentence for the living and breathing residents.
Logging is a multi-million dollar industry, but holds little merit for the destruction of rainforests. 93% of the paper products that we use today come directly from trees in these forests. Another 40% is used for wood products and furniture. To say that we have no other options is total bull pucky. Hemp crops were grown for 12,000 years prior to the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. It only takes 12-14 weeks for hemp stalks to mature to be used for wood products, as opposed to 20 years for a tree to mature. We are currently destroying trees 3 times faster than they can be raised.
With CO2 levels increasing by 30% over the past 100 years and the decrease in hectares of rain forests, where will our descendants be able to turn for clean air in the future? Hemp is a viable answer by providing wood fiber instead of removing trees from forests and threatening wildlife survival. Endangered species and clean air do not have to be the crisis that is presented today. Together with industrial hemp, the rainforests can return to doing what they are best at, preserving life and a sustainable future for future generations.
SOURCES:
http://hempethics.weebly.com/hemp-and-sustainability.html
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/about_the_amazon/why_amazon_important/
http://www.ran.org/fact-sheet-tropical-rainforest-animals
