Once a vast sea of tropical forest, the Amazon rainforest today is scarred by roads, farms, ranches, and dams. Brazil is gifted with a full third of the world's remaining rainforests; unfortunately, it is also one of the world's great rainforest destroyers, burning or felling more than 2.7 million acres each year. More than 20 percent of rainforest in the Amazon has been razed and is gone forever. This ocean of green, nearly as large as Australia, is the last great rainforest in the known universe and it is being decimated like the others before it. Why? Like other rainforests already lost forever, the land is being cleared for logging timber, large-scale cattle ranching, mining operations, government road building and hydroelectric schemes, military operations, and the subsistence agriculture of peasants and landless settlers. Sadder still, in many places the rainforests are burnt simply to provide charcoal to power industrial plants in the area.

We are PHD students which means we are intelligent people (probably belonging to the most intelligent people on the planet). If we don't acknowledge the implications of this issue for the future of our planet, who else will???

Let's fight for the Amazon rainforest. 20% have already been destroyed in the last 50 years, the next 50 are the last chance in the history of humanity to prevent the world from the biggest mistake ever done!

You've convinced me Otto - what shall I do??

Spread the word

This thread has generated an amazing amount of interest..

I'm still here Otto - awaiting further instructions

I think this thread needs to be drawn back into public attention!

i'm recycling like mad here!

We have changed our entire set of kitchen lights to ones that take energy saving lightbulbs (the previous ownere fitted ones that were burning 9 GU10 bulbs!!).
I have annoyed the council asking for more recycling faciliites (at present we have to drive miles to get to plastic/cardboard recycle bins which sort of negates the whole thing
Nothing left on standby anymore and we have has a thrmostat fitted so we only use what we need.
I now walk to town not drive.
My husband has pioneered the paperless office in his business and other departments have expressed an interest in too...although not breaking their necks to give it a go!!!
I do however still drive a gas guzzler BUT I do have 5 children so I struggled to get an alternative. My phobia of flying means we don't fly at all so thats good too.
I'm trying my hardest honest!!!!!

it`s quite right all you say - but I still do not know sth that I or in general we can do to be really effective - sth that goes beyond some personal reciclation - actually the care each of us will show is extremely important, but what else can we do?