1. 20% of the earth's oxygen is supplied by the rainforest (Raintree Nutrition Inc. "Rainforest Facts")
2. So much of the rainforest has yet to be explored; who knows what kind of medicines, sources of energy, or cures for diseases could be found there.
3. Many tribal people call the Amazon home. Destructions of the Amazon is invading their lands and disrupting their traditional lifestyles.
4. More than half of the world's 10 million species of animals, plants, insects come from tropical rainforest, without the Amazon Rainforest they would all die out.
5. The Amazon provides a multitude of different types of foods including bananas, nuts and coffee beans. There are more than an estimated 3000 fruits in the Amazon, but currently the West only utilizes 200 of them (Raintree Nutrition Inc. "Rainforest Facts")
6. Consumers have a lot to lose if the rain forest is destroyed. The rubber in tires comes from the rubber tree. Rope and baskets are made from rain-forest products. Some of the chemicals from rain-forest leaves, flowers, and seeds are used to make perfumes, soaps, polishes, and chewing gum.
7. Rainforests are essential to recycling water. Almost half of all the world's rain falls on rain forests. Plants trap water in the soil and then slowly release it into the air, where it evaporates. Clouds form and rain falls, filling rivers and streams. That water is later used for drinking and irrigating crops.
8.Rainforests are home to 40-50% of all life forms on earth. There are an estimated 30 million species of plant, animal and insect in the rainforests. (Rainforest Action Network)
9. Anywhere from 20 to 50% of the plants in the rainforest have yet to be named (www.amazonian.org)
10. The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of these plants are found in the rainforest. Twenty-five percent of the active ingredients in today's cancer-fighting drugs come from organisms found only in the rainforest (Raintree Nutrition Inc. "Rainforest Facts")
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