Week Two: Reality Hurts
As time passes this project is getting easier. At first, I believed that it was going to be hard. I was brainwashed with the negative ideas that my relatives were telling me. They said that I was wasting my time on something stupid. But climate change and making a beneficial impact to the planet is NOT stupid.
Making a change to my diet made me realize that I’m capable to do many things such as cooking for my family and convincing people to do the right thing. A couple days ago, I had this conversation with my friend and cousin. I told them that making a change in your lifestyle brings positive impacts to the world. “But why should we care?” he asked. Good question.
Imagine yourself in the future . The world could have better technology and you may have become a successful person in life. It almost sounds perfect. But here’s the catch: the amount of rain forests in the world would be limited. According to National Geographic, The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation.
Let’s pay attention to the Amazon rain forest. It’s a beautiful and unique forest that covers northwestern Brazil and extends into Colombia, Peru and other South American countries. It’s the largest tropical rain forest in the world. It’s known for its biodiversity. The Amazon is home for more than 2,000 species of animals for example, pink dolphin in the Amazon river, the kinkajou,etc. It is also home to many Amazonian tribes. But lately, deforestation has been taking over the Amazon. In the past 40 years, 20% of the Amazon has been cut down! This is due to animal agriculture. Deforestation in at the Amazon brings negative effects. By destroying the Amazon, it is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Another article in National Geographic says that 80% of species may not survive deforestation in the Amazon forest.
This knowledge provokes a crestfallen feeling in me that turned into guilt. On my bucket list, I want to travel to the Amazon. I want to see the beauty of nature with my own eyes instead of reading it in a book or seeing it in pictures. But maybe I will never get the chance to cross that off my list and it will be MY fault. Millions of trees are being cut down just to get meat on my dinner plate. I am the reason that animals are losing their homes. But I can stop this and so can you.
“We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.” — Nelson Mandela
