In 1950, 2.5 billion acres of rain forest were in the world. Soon the amount may drop to 1.2 billion. One hundred acres of rain forests are destroyed every minute. It is likely in 177 years the earth's tropical rain forest will be destroyed. There are many reasons this could happen.

Building roads is a common form of deforestation. Settlers and logging companies are destroying rain forests by making these roads. Mining companies also build roads to move their heavy equipment into areas of the rain forest.

Brazil and Indonesia encourage poor people to resettle from overpopulated cities into the rain forest. These new settlers do not have the same knowledge of the native inhabitants. They do not know the correct way to care and harvest resources. These new settlers do not know how to care for the land.

Rain forest land is rapidly being cleared for cattle ranching. Ranchers need a lot of grassland to feed a herd of cattle because people eat a lot of beef. More and more land is needed for pastures due to the world's need of beef. Rain forest land is cheaper than other land. Millions of acres have been cleared to make room for pastures.

Areas of the rain forest are being cleared for farms. These farms are being used for growing cash crops. Some of these crops are bananas, cocoa beans, oranges, and rubber. Governments can make a lot of money by doing this, but this is causing our rain forest to disappear.

Mining companies are clearing huge areas of the rain forest to get oil and valuable metals from rocks found below the rain forest. This digging not only destroys large areas of the rain forest but produces a lot of waste materials. This waste material is dumped on nearby land causing more destruction. This dumping of waste material also causes pollution of rivers and streams and consequently destruction of wildlife.

The rain forest produces hardwood, which is perfect for building furniture. Throughout the forest these trees are scattered. Other trees become damaged while searching for hardwood trees. Soil also is destroyed making it difficult to grow new trees. Some countries have outlawed logging, but it still often occurs illegally.

The rain forest harbors valuable organisms. They remove a large amount of life from the forest. They sell this for a profit. Even though there are laws protecting this from happening, it still continues.

These are just some of the reasons why we should care for the rain forest!

By Shannon G., Lisa S., Jeff W.