"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being,
drive a spear into the land, and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and
corporations, 'thus far and no farther.'"
--Edward Abbey
For millions of impoverished people the Amazon Rainforest is not a beautiful
wilderness to be preserved but a resource to be used. As populations grow the land
is cleared for crops and cattle pastures. Hydroelectric dams change the ecology of
the river and flood acres of forest. Also gold mines too have left an indelible
imprint in the rainforest as the mercury used to process the gold appears in
alarming rates in fish and has spread silently into humans.As goverments debate the
complex issues rainforest is dissapearing at 20 football fields a minute and with it
a tapestry of life that took nature millions of years to create.The forests
incredible animal and plant diversity is little understood and greatly under siege.
Scores of species are being wiped out before even being identified. Some say beauty
is it's own excuse for being preserved but the message is clear, the matter of the
rainforest is not simply a matter of aesthetics. It is a matter of survival not only
for the splendid creatures that live here but ultimately for ourselves.
