Rainforest Story - Conclusion


Rainforests are a biological treasure house, filled with wonders. Still to be explored and studied adequately, it is nonetheless already very clear that Rainforests have connections with our daily lives and planetary well being.

Brimming with plant, animal and microbial life, it is an awesome, interwoven organic mechanism. Due to the unique structure of the rainforest and its living biomass, it cannot support the destruction currently being inflicted by modern industrialized agriculture.

A delicate balance exists between the indigenous people and modern agriculture that the rainforest is capable of supporting. The future of our rainfall levels, greenhouse gas remediation, and the resource of untapped species must be balanced with the rights of forest dwellers to support themselves and their families.

The ecological services provided by rainforests are only beginning to be fully understood. From oxygen to products to medicines, the rainforest is capable of providing a virtually untapped number of daily resources.

Everyone should share in the thrill of learning about rainforests: the greatest expression of life on earth.
About Tom Lovejoy
(the author)

Tom Lovejoy is a biologist who went to the Amazon of Brazil in 1965, became fascinated by the living treasure chest,
and has worked to understand and save rainforests ever since.

He played a major role in bringing the issue of tropical deforestation to the
public consciousness, made the first estimation of global extinction rates in 1980, and coined the term “biological diversity”.

He founded the public television series NATURE in 1982. He also pioneered
the study of the impacts of climate
change on the natural world. His advice is widely sought on policy matters relating to science, environment and sustainable development.

He built the program of World Wildlife Fund from 1973 to 1987, served subsequently as a high official at the Smithsonian Institution and at the World Bank.

Since 2002 he has been President of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and Environment, an environmental policy center in Washington, D.C.