1. Geographic Response Emily Sprainis

2. Question Describe how the issue of the rainforest destruction in Latin America affects the region and the global community. Support your examples with detailed explanations. Identify solutions to this problem from the standpoint of a Brazilian politician and a politician from the United States.

3. Answer from a Brazilian Politician: The destruction of the rainforest affects our region directly. It is making us money, so we really shouldn’t stop cutting it down. Plus, we can cut it down for infrastructure. There are also the loggers, who can cut down trees and sell them, which is also profitable because the world is always looking for wood, and most of the wood comes from our rainforest. If we were to prevent the cutting down of the rainforest, it would only hurt us, because our economy is finally rising again after colonization. Even though there is the issue of deforestation, we can still plant more trees where it is necessary to do so, to prevent losing the entire forest. There are enough trees that even after a long time, we will still be okay. Especially if we are planting new trees where we cut the other ones down. So in conclusion, it is best to continue to let us cut down the rainforest. However, there could be certain sections that we protect by law to make sure we don’t lose the whole thing. For example, it can be an area that is off-limits to anyone without a permit to be there, such as rubber tappers (who don’t actually damage the trees) and people participating in ecotourism.

4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7399109.stm Picture of the logging industry in Brazil and they believe that it is necessary for the economy.

5. Answer from a United States politician Deforestation in Latin America has become a worldwide issue. It is a major contributor to global warming. If we continue to let them cut down the rainforest, then it will be difficult to prevent global warming that is already occurring, plus what will come in the future. Because the trees that are cut down are usually burnt to clear the area, that produces extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and also contributes to global warming. The best solution to this crisis is to stop the cutting down of the rainforest and find other resources for wood, or materials that completely replace the wood. It wouldn’t happen over night, but over time, scientist could find a way to make the materials we need wood to make from an alternate source that is renewable because we would have more of it. So in conclusion, don’t continue to contribute to the deforestation of the Latin American rainforest because it will hurt the future and all of the people because of global warming, and the fact that there will not be near as many trees as there previously were.

6. http://photos.mongabay.com/06/braz_defor_88-05-lrg.jpg Picture of the amount of deforestation in Brazil that needs to be stopped plus a graph of how much there is.