‘CRASH! VROOM! TIMBER!’ I bet these are the sounds you will hear once you enter the Amazon Rainforest today. Years ago, when it was still intact and young in parts, it was a beautiful sight to see. Flowers as red as blood, trees so green you’d swear they were fake. But it soon all stopped when people realized that they could get more money out of not just its sights, but the rainforest itself. People driven by hunger and greed will stop at nothing to tear the beautiful Amazon apart and we should stop them before it’s too late. The Amazon rainforest should be saved from extinction because of the medicine it holds, the endangered animals, and unknown species under its canopy, and its trees that we get more out of than just paper.

We rely on the Amazon for medicine from its plants, but it is getting destroyed everyday along with our chances to save peoples lives. About ¼ of modern medicines these days come from rainforests around the world. Every time someone clears a tree, or a clearing full of unknown plants, we could be throwing away our chances of finding a cure for AIDS, cancer or some other deadly disease. So far about 70% of plants we found in the Amazon fight cancer (Johnson, 42). Imagine if we found a cure for these people. But instead people down below in South America are stepping on them while they try to clear the Amazon of its riches. Even a scientist, Mark Plotkin says, “…we’re missing miracle drugs left and right.” People against this topic might say that we have plenty of rainforests around the world. They’re just clearing away this one. What’s the big deal? However, the Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world, so it’s not just a little deal if we clear it away-it’s a big deal. These are the reasons why the Amazon Rainforest should be saved for its medicine.

We should save endangered animals and unknown species in the Amazon rainforest because we could learn a lot from and about them. Many of the animals in the Amazon Rainforest cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Every time someone bulldozers over an area of land, they’re destroying an animal’s home along with their chances for survival. About 1.5 million animals have been found and identified around the world; 1.5-30 million still remain unknown, half of them could be in the Amazon (Johnson, 41). But think of those numbers- 1.5-30 million species still unknown. Every time someone clears a stretch of land away, we don’t know what’s being lost in it. But we do know that about 27,000 species are being lost each year in rainforests around the globe (Johnson, 42). Think of how many animals die each day because of these selfish people and their wanting for money. People against this topic might say that there are too many animals in the world and that they’re killing humans. But it’s not an animals fault when they attack a human. Animals don’t fight unless provoked- and it’s usually our own doing that gets them all riled up. These are the reasons why the Amazon Rainforest should be saved because of all the endangered animals and unknown species under its canopy.






We should save the Amazon before it gets destroyed by deforestation because we get a lot more out of the Amazon than just paper right now. Where do you think we get oxygen from? Trees; and they’re being cut down this very instant. We need oxygen to survive, and cutting down the things that help us live is just ensuring the human race’s destruction. If you clear away even a single tree- you have to plant another one somewhere else. But think of all the trees down in the Amazon- no one’s planting new trees for all those ones being lost right now to deforestation. Every time someone cuts down a tree in the Amazon, 27 other trees are damaged, 130 feet of roads are created and more than 6000 square feet of the canopy are destroyed (Johnson, 33). And do you know what they’re doing with those trees? Nothing. They’re just letting them sit there and decompose into nothing but more of the forest floor. Even though I’m totally against cutting down trees for paper- think how of much paper, cardboard, and books we could make out of those wasted trees. But instead people are clearing away about 22,393 square miles of forest each year (Johnson, 37). People against this topic might say that they’ll replant the trees the Amazon lost. But if they’re promising to replant the trees the Amazon lost, then why haven’t they already? Or they might say that we already have a bunch of trees- who cares that they’re tearing down these ones? But as I said before, the Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world-and it should stay full and intact to the very end. These are the reason why the Amazon Rainforest should be saved form deforestation.



As you can see the Amazon Rainforest should be saved because of the medicine it holds, the endangered animals and unknown species it carries, and its trees that are used for so many more useful things than paper. So remember- every time you use a piece of paper: recycle it! It can be used for so many more useful things and we’ll need all the paper we can get. Or instead of recycling that piece of paper- you could write a letter to a Natural Resources Defense Council or a National Wildlife Federation and tell them about the ideas you think could work well with saving the Amazon. You could even plant a tree- one that could stand for a tree lost in the fight for the Amazon. Or if none of these ideas are sounding to your liking, you could talk about it. You can tell your friends, families, even neighbors about the Amazon and what little things they could do that could make a big difference. We need everyone we can get in the fight for the Amazon if we are going to win the Amazon back its glory.