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'World Rainforest Week’ aims to inform younger generation
about preserving one of the Earth’s most precious ecosystems
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By Michelle Voss
Staff writer
ainforests are home to 30 million
species of plants and animals —
over half of the Earth’s lifeforms.
Two-thirds of the Earth’s plant
species come from rainforests;
many of those plants serve medic
inal purposes. Rainforests also are an intricate
part to the Earth’s global weather system, help
ing to regulate the water cycle.
Despite these benefits, according to the Rain
forest Action Network (RAN) Web site, an area of
rainforests equivalent to two football fields is de
stroyed every second.
In Indonesia, vast tracts of jungle are set
ablaze by agricultural development companies
and by farmers who burn rainforests as a cheap
way of clearing land.
In an effort to increase public consciousness of
the importance of these forests, the Texas Environ
mental Action Coalition (TEAC) is proclaiming this
week as World Rainforest Week, with its theme as,
“Protecting the World’s Old-Growth Forests.”
In cooperation with national groups such as
RAN, TEAC hopes to inform students about the
necessity of preserving the rainforests.
Plans for the week include a booth in the MSC,
where members of TEAC will be handing out infor
mation and collecting donations for rainforest
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restoration efforts.
Joanne Skidmore, president of TEAC and a se
nior bioenvironmental science major, said cutting
down old-growth forest trees and replacing them
with seedlings is comparable to taking a man out
of society and replacing him with a baby.
Like a baby, a seedling is weak and cannot per-
“A lot of countries don’t have the op
tion of being environmentally con
scious, so we definitely need to set the
pace in environmental action.”
STACEY PORTER
SECRETARY, TEAC
JUNIOR GEOGRAPHY MAJOR
form the same work as older trees.
“After we cut the trees down, the concessions
we try to make for that are not adequate, so we’re
losing that battle,” she said.
Our existence relies upon the proliferation of
the rainforests, Skidmore said.
“The rainforests regulate global climate, just
like coral reefs are very effective in filtering the
water in the ocean,” she said. “As the rainforests
disappear and become more spotty, it will cause
more fluctuation in the global climate.”
Another problem associated with the mass
destruction of rainforests is the spread of disease,
Skidmore said.
“Diseases can come out of the soil when you
deplete its natural protection, like tuberculosis,”
she said. “The soil is a host to thousands of
things, and if we unleash that, we don’t know
what can come out of there [soil in the rainfor
est] into the world.”
Skidmore said preserving the rainforests protects
plants that can be used to find new cures for diseases.
A substantial percentage of our pharmaceuti
cal products are already derived from plants in
the rainforest and cannot be synthesized in a lab
oratory, she said.
“There are far reaches of the Earth that we can
use and have not even taken an inventory of
them yet,” she said. “It’s a really precarious thing
to destroy something like that.”
TEAC wants to change perceptions of the rain
forest, and their goal this week is to inform stu
dents about the role of rainforests in people’s lives.
Skidmore said if the younger generation
shows more concern for the rainforests and gives
more attention to the issues, then the govern
ment might realize there is a sector of society it
must please.
“We’re only victims of a very comfortable soci
ety,” she said. “There is no need for moral outrage,
no need to condemn. But we do need to worry.”
Stacey Porter, secretary of TEAC and a junior
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geography major, said Americans should be
leaders in environmental issues.
“A lot of countries don’t have the option of being
environmentally conscious, so we definitely need to
set the pace in environmental action,” she said.
Porter said she is optimistic about America’s
future for changing environmental policy.
“We can raise our children to have a different
paradigm of thinking,” she said.
Americans live comfortably, and if we want to
continue to have our comfortable standard of living,
we must remember to respect the earth, Porter said.
“We take such good care of our clothes and
our furniture, but where does it come from?” she
said. “Everything comes from the Earth.”
Skidmore said the consumers have the power
to help the rainforests by not buying products
from companies that destroy the rainforests.
“Boycott is such an ugly world, but maybe that is
what il takes,” she said. “Don’t support those causes.”
Justin York, vice-president ofTEAC and a senior
philosophy major, said although environmental
ism is no longer trendy, individual people can help
by participating in such activities as recycling.
“Lack of information and knowledge is a big
factor in destroying things without realizing it,”
he said.
People can use the resources of the rainforest,
Skidmore said, but they cannot exploit it.
“Cutting down the rainforests to meet short
term needs is like burning a Renaissance paint
ing to cook a meal,” Skidmore said.
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