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Name: Theresa
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Question:
How can we tell people to stop destroying rainforests?

What types of jobs do the people who live in the rainforest do?

What types of cultures of people can you find?

What are the most bizarre animals you would find in the rainforest?

What is the largest rainforest in the world?

What is the most dangerous animal in the rainforest?


Replies:
All interesting questions. You might try writing to these experts for more information: Rainforest Action Network, 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133 World Resources Institute, 1735 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20006 Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036

There are many strange plants and animals in rainforests, giant insects, giant snakes, giant sloths, etc., but in some people's opinion, the human being is the most bizarre and dangerous animal there.

There are people who live by hunting animals, gathering plants, and growing small plots, and other people who live by ranching cattle, cutting timber, tending orchards and plantations, and other commercial enterprises. Some of the most dangerous are miners for gold and precious gems who live by the law of the gun. The situation in the rainforests is very similar to the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th Century. Some control over the exploitation of natural resources was accomplished in the Unite States by citizen advocates for wilderness preservation, such as John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club. People in the government also were concerned about preserving and conserving natural resources, such as Gifford Pinchot who founded the US Forest Service, and Teddy Roosevelt, the president who started the National Park Service.

The same kinds of action are called for today in countries that are just beginning to develop their natural resources in tropical climates. They can learn valuable lessons from United States history.

Mortis


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