브라질 아마존 우림의 자연 피해 현장
브라질 아마존 우림의 자연 피해 현장
Over the past year, scientists have issued ~을 공포하다 their most dire 무시무시한 predictions yet <최상급과 함께> 현재까지로는 about climate change. As part of ABC’s Earth Day coverage in Prime Time tonight we’re gonna have correspondents reporting from various spots 장소 all around the world. Looking at the problems and possible solutions and one of those places is the Amazon rain forest 열대 우림 of Brazil, home to one of the planet’s most spectacular, diverse, and fragile 망가지기 쉬운 ecosystems 생태계. And ABC’s John Quinones is there. John?
Well, Charlie, the Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest in the world, stretching for more than 2 million square miles 평방 마일. The people who live here and there are still some 200 native tribes 토착부족 here, they like to say that the Amazon is their grocery store, their pharmacy 약국, of course it is, not only for them, but for all of us. If ever there was a Garden of Eden 에덴동산, this would be it, home to some 500,000 species 종 of plants, two and a half million species of insects.
There are jaguars 재규어 <중남미산 표범> here, alligators 악어, anacondas, and of course these towering trees. You want a cure 해결책 for global warming, this is it. They absorb some of the excess carbon dioxide 이산화탄소 that modern man spews 내뿜다 into the atmosphere 대기, 공기. And guess what? They give us back oxygen. An average tree can provide enough oxygen for a family of four for an entire year.
You would think we want to preserve these. Well, instead, just take a look over here to what’s happening to so much of the Amazon as well as forests around the world. After decades of talking about saving the rainforest, it’s being decimated 격감시키다 at the rate of some 50 million acres a year. Charlie?
But John, you know, when people look at that, they think, I can’t make a difference 영향을 주다, I mean I’m just one person and the desire for wood around the world is so great. Is there something average people can do essentially to save the rainforest?
Absolutely, there are products now being sold, everything from lumber 재목 to cosmetics 화장품 to fast food, Charlie, that no longer, uh, exploit 개발하다, 활용하다 the rainforest. They’re hard to find, but you can find them. Of course, the other thing is recycle 재활용. Buy recycled goods and then recycle, especially paper. All right. John Quinones in the Amazon rainforest where you’re beginning to get some of the rain there. Thanks.