GO GREEN -Rainforests

Rainforests are valuable habitats. About half of all the species of animals and plants in the world live in rainforests with a possible 50,000 species a year becoming extinct. Thousands of rainforest plants contain substances that can be used in medicines and the tribal people of the forests have great knowledge of them. Rainforests are also important because they provide us with oxygen and help to regulate the world’s climate and atmosphere.
Yet despite their value, an area of rainforest the size of Britain is destroyed every year. One a half acres are cleared every second, an area about the size of a football pitch. They are cut down to make way for ‘civilized man’ to provide timber, grow crops and graze cattle. Sometimes they’re burnt down to make space to grow soya, and animal feed and to grow palm oil, a bio-fuel used as an alternative to petrol and diesel, as well as being use as an ingredient in many foods.
• Never buy products made up of tropical hardwoods e.g. mahogany and teak. It is better to buy
• Garden and flower shops sometimes sell rainforest orchids that have been imported, although endangered ones have been protected since 1973. If you buy an orchid, check that it has been grown in Britain.
• Some parrots and macaws are unfortunately still imported. If you want a parrot as a pet, make sure it has been hatched in Britain.
• Eating e beef burger may be helping to destroy the rainforest! Most burgers in Britain are made from European cattle. However, the cattle are often fed on soya beans and a lot of that comes from Brazil where large areas of forest have been destroyed to make soya fields. Before buying a burger, ask where the cattle came from and what they were fed on. Try a veggie burger for a change.