The scariest thing about working in the jungle is the trees. It might seem silly to be afraid of trees when you spend weeks in the rainforest, but some are hundreds of years old and stretch what seems like miles into the heavens. A single gust of wind can send one creaking and crashing to the ground. You can’t outrun a tree. You can leave your bag on the ground and walk away and the next thing you know, it’s crushed and you can’t get it out. You can lose all your food, water, and supplies that way. A tree can cost you your life. Up to 200 feet tall, they tower above the hot, steamy ground. But the most dangerous thing in the forest won’t be here forever.

The Amazon has lost almost one-fifth of its size in the last fifty years due to mostly illegal farming and logging. Deforestation also has caused the second most greenhouse gas emissions in the world, the first being the burning of fossil fuels. The Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world, covering almost 7 million square kilometers. But as time moved on, Brazilians began to regard the Amazon not as an amazing jungle, but empty space to be filled up. 

The jungle is razed in order to build communities and raise cattle. According to a law in the Brazilian government passed in 1965, landowners in the Amazon have to keep 35 to 80 percent of their land under native vegetation. However, since the Amazon is so big, it’s very difficult to maintain this law, called the Forest Code. 

Another danger for the forest is fires. The dry season, around August, is when most of these occur. Farmers may burn land to clear space for cattle, which is fine in small amounts. But as opposed to the year before, 2019 showed a 111% increase in fires, an alarming amount. 

Another scary problem that has come from deforestation is disease. For example, in 1997, a part of the rainforest in Indonesia was burned. The smoke choked the trees and they couldn’t produce fruit, causing the fruit bats to find food somewhere else. They carried disease with them. When they landed in Malaysia, pigs and local pig farmers started to get sick from eating fallen fruit the bats had partly eaten. In 1999, 265 people had gotten sick and 105 people had died from the Nipah virus. This disease had been kept to the wilderness, but with the burning and destroying of trees, it was exposed to the rest of the world, causing outbreaks in Southeast Asia. Many other diseases also have originated from the rainforest and have now spilled over to the rest of the world. 

The cattle industry, accounting for 80% of deforested land, is the main culprit for the clearing of the jungle. Once regarded as the largest carbon sink, it is now estimated that it actually produces more than it takes in, thanks to deforestation. But the footprint isn’t the only problem; deforestation also threatens the people that already lived there. 

Up to 13,000 years ago, the first people migrated to live in the Amazon. Up to 10 million people now reside in the rainforest, but their homes are being threatened by the deforestation inching closer to them every minute. No, that’s not an exaggeration -- 10,000 acres are destroyed every day. Also, after being exposed to new illnesses, the tribes of the Amazon are dying fast. Plus, when indigenous people try to speak up, it often ends in their death. This is a problem that we have to solve together, to save lives, trees, and our earth for future generations. 

It might seem out of your control, but we can influence the future of the Amazon. Here are a couple examples:

• Reducing intake of palm oil*, soy, and meat (especially beef)

• Using responsibly sourced products, like non-tropical wood, recycled paper, gold not mined in the rainforest, and local meat

• Flying and driving less, using public transportation, and avoiding buying unnecessary products (to reduce the overall carbon footprint in the first place)

• Informing other people about the crisis - encouraging them to donate, sharing this article, or telling them about it

While we can’t stop things from happening, we can play a part in ensuring our future generations live a healthy and happy life while the rainforests thrive.

Sources: 

• https://rainforestfoundation.org/engage/10-things-you-can-do/

• https://www.cfr.org/amazon-deforestation/#/en/section2

• https://time.com/amazon-rainforest-disappearing/

• https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/brazil/stories-in-brazil/brazils-forest-code/

• https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/palm-oil#:~:text=It%20is%20also%20used%20in,is%20a%20very%20productive%20crop.

• https://www.climate-policy-watcher.org/rain-forest/age-size-and-growth-in-tropical-rainforest-trees.html#:~:text=Twenty%20large%20trees%20from%20near,age%2C%20even%20within%20a%20species.

• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/deforestation