“Destroying rain forest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal” is a quote by E O Wilson quotes. Burning a Renaissance painting would be losing a piece of history, and it will never come back. There is nothing to gain, its pointless. Deforestation of rain forests is bad for the ecosystem plus it is like losing a major part of history that will never grow back. The trees that grow there can be centuries old. Also, think about the animals. We've been losing 137 species a day due to deforestation.

Rain forests lose about 2,000 trees per minute and one football field every second. According to Ask, rain forests covered about fourteen percent of land. In 1996 it was down to six. In order for that percent to drop by eight, think of the millions and millions of trees needed to be cut down. Sure, six percent is still a small number compared to the whole world, but that was in 1996. Inhabitants of the rain forests were at about ten million at one point. Now, in 2013, there are around 200,000. I completely understand. With people everywhere, food diminishing, and property shrinking, why would someone stay?

The slash and burn technique is becoming extremely popular. Someone simply walks to the rain forest area they want, burn everything down, then let their cows graze on the grass that will only last for about two years. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute says everything that was cut and burned down will never come back. In rain forests, leaves decompose in about six weeks. The leaves are what keeps the soil’s nutrient up. When all the trees are dead, there are no leaves to keep up the nutrients in the soil. Even though the ashes are very fertile, it will only last about two years before being washed away. I’d say its more work to burn the trees down than to buy a house and stay there until death. Why can’t people just open their eyes and notice what they're doing is wrong? At this rate everything will disappear before I'm dead.

The Rain forests still hold more than half the world’s species even though they lose 50,000 every year. Think of all the unknown species that might not be counted in that number, and of how nobody has ever seen them. Extinct means that its never coming back no matter what anybody says. I’m sure the big furniture companies will say oh, its only a few trees plus there are wildlife reserves. Reserves can’t include the whole rain forest, but soon that’s the only thing that will be left. Animals will start to overcrowd and easily be hunted by predators. After that, every surviving animal will belong to a zoo.

Rain forests and everything inside will never be safe until there is almost nothing left. Take gas. When the price goes up we hear more and more about alternative energy. But when the price goes back down there is no reason to create healthier and better fuel. Only when we have a problem we care. The human race is greedy and selfish with money controlling every choice we make. The world is falling apart, and that's how its going to stay until the end when we try to save it.