Destruction of Nature
Sharon White
Rainforest : Nature Conservancy
Did you know that rain forests have been identified as having anti-cancer properties ? Rain forests are threatened by unsustainable agricultural , ranching, mining , and logging practices . There were approximately 6 million people living in the Brazilian Amazon. But when the forest disappeared , the people vanished along with it . 6 million square miles of tropical rain forest existed . After deforestation only 2.4 million square miles remained .
Do You Know Why Our Water is in Trouble ?
Too often people rely on rivers and lakes to meet their needs . For example, growing food people don't realize that it sends pollution into our drinking water . Forest helps keep erosion and other pollution out of our water sources. But forests are being harmed too by our people and most of the time they don't even realize it . Farms and ranches produce things we need and want but it also takes up 70% of the water from rivers and lakes. When excess fertilizer washes into rivers and lakes its a possibility it could cause algal blooms that leads to taste and odor problems in drinking water .
Global Warming
Higher temperatures from global warming is evaporating water supplies and reducing rainfall. One billion city dwellers globally will be living on less then 100 liters of water a day by 2050. Which is two-thirds of bathtub water . An additional 100 million people in cities could be water short because of the impacts of climate change. While up to 3 billion could be in water shortage for at least one month out of the year. Global climate change has already have observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk , ice on rivers and lakes are breaking up earlier , plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner .