Did you know...
• As food crops, we use only 7,000 of about 75,000 known edible plants.
• 500,000 trees are cut every hour in tropical rainforests.
• We lose 20,000 to 100,000 species a year.
• We may lose 20 percent of all species on the planet within the next 30 years!
• An area the size of a football field is being destroyed every second!
• We owe the discovery of many food crops from the tropical rainforests: Lemons, limes, oranges, pineapples, mangoes, avocados, guavas, papayas, passionfruits, bananas, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, palm oil, rubber, annatto (natural red food coloring), cashews, brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, hearts of palm, essential oils, coffee beans and can you ever imagine living without... CHOCOLATE?!
For more information:
Due to our limited resources, we are unable to supply you with rainforest facts and figures of any kind except for those specifically relating to our conservation projects shown on our web site. If you are writing a school paper on rainforests, please do not ask us for help. Instead, we recommend you visit your local library or order books through online book sellers for the most complete information.
For more information on rainforests, we recommend you investigate the following resources:
Rainforest facts and data:
• The Primary Source: Tropical Forests and Our Future/Updated for the 1990s
by Norman Myers, Nancy J. Myers
Paperback, 416 pages. Published by W. W. Norton & Co, ©1992, ISBN: 0393308286
• The World Resources Institute web site
WRI Tropical forests web site section
WRI State of the World's Forests web site section
• Food and Agriculture Organization web site
Help starting an organization:
Contact the Rainforest Action Network by calling 1-415-398-4404 (USA)
or email rags@ran.org.
Educational Programs and School Presentations
(in the Northern California, USA area only):
Visit the Wildlife Associates web site, or write to or call:
Wildlife Associates, P.O. Box 982, Pacifica, CA 94044
Phone: 1-800-244-WILD (1-800-244-9453)
Visit the Bridge page of this site for more links and a recommended reading list.