As Canadians, we feel helpless when it comes to helping the Amazonian rainforest. We are so far away, and we can’t see personally what is actually going on. We only see what is going on in the medias and on websites. As we are so far away, and don’t have direct access, we feel helpless. Not only are we far away, the problem that the forest is facing seem to be so drastic that we wonder how three young adults could possibly make any big changes to help. Even though these problems seem major, the smallest of gestures make a big difference. Whether this be to sign petitions to stop the government from allowing deforestation and the destruction of forests, to donating some money to help these changes come true, these changes make a difference. After doing some research, we have found some resources that Canada provides to those who want to help save the rainforest, which would result in helping our planet. 

Canada has taken some initiative to help save the Amazonian Rainforest. One resource that has provided information that can guide anyone who wants to help donate or sign petitions is Greenpeace Canada. Greenpeace Canada’s website has a page for the Amazonian rainforest where there are direct links you can click if you want to donate or fundraise for the forest. This page also provides crucial information on what is currently going on in the forest, and why our action is crucial to saving it. The webpage explains that the deforestation and forest fires are destroying ecosystems, homes, and are eliminating on of Earth’s prime sources of oxygen. Providing this background information is great because reading all this information makes you want to help the forest even more. 

Even though there are resources such as Greenpeace Canada, and many others that offer the option to donate, fundraise and sign petitions, not enough is being done in Canada to save this forest. In fact, despite all this destruction, Canada is still trading with Brazil, which encourages the deforestation and forest fires. If Canada were simply to stop these trades, we would be doing the forest a big favour. 

From watching our ad campaign, Canada could learn that even though the government believes that these trades they are currently doing are important, they will no longer be important if our planet dies because the rainforest is completely and irreversibly destroyed. Our action is crucial, because without this forest, mankind may not be able to live on this planet for much longer. This ad campaign might open their eyes to the fact that no trade will be important when mankind is fighting for its life because we no longer have enough oxygen to survive, and climate changes are increasing.  

In conclusion, although Canada is proving information to help the population donate and create fundraisers to help save the forest, the government is not doing enough to stop these destructions from happening as they are not halting trades with Brazil, which encourages the destruction of forests. Our ad campaign could help the government realize how drastic these problems are to our planet, and how much damage it could cause the planet if the rainforest were to die. 

One of the main issues, in this area, is the deforestation. The deforestation in this country keeps growing because the government does not act toward it. Since 1978, more than 1 million square kilometers of the Amazon rainforest has been deforested and more than 43 million hectares of the forest has been destroyed between 2004 and 2017.

The main causes that lead to the deforestation were that 63% because of the pasture, 12% small scale agriculture and 9% because of the fire. As we understand that 63% of the space made by the deforestation will be given to pasture and ranch, we can understand that the meat consumption worldwide is leading to increasing deforestation globally, but mainly in the Amazonian Forest. (World Wild Fund for Nature, 2020). To help reduce this deforestation, the worldwide population should start reducing their meat intakes. This would help to reduce the percentage of space used for the pasture.  This change would create a more sustainable lifestyle for the population and would lead to a decrease in deforestation. A great documentary that depicts the drastic effects that eating meat has on our planet is Cowspiracy, on Netflix (Films and Media, 2014).   

In Brazil, the main issue is the desforestation.  We chose this problem because if the deforestation of the Amazonian rainforest keeps going at this rate, in 50 years there it could be completely gone (Mayer 2020). The effects of such tragedy would be lethal to millions of living species and their habitat (Rafferty). Not only would ecosystems be disturbed but also, the average global temperature of earth would rise up from 0.25°C. Furthermore, the seven million square kilometers where is situated the Amazonian rainforest would be inhabitable. Also, rainfall worldwide would be 25% lower which would cause extreme drought and wildfires and could lead to agricultural problems worldwide. As well as forcing people to move because of the lack of water sources (The Brazilian Report 2019). Overall, ongoing deforestation of the Amazonian forest could cause the increase of the global temperature worldwide, worldwide drought and wildfires and the extinction of millions of species.  

This video describes the consequences the earth would suffer if the Amazon were to disappear. Every minute in the Amazonian rainforest, the equivalent of three football fields are being destroyed.  If no one takes actions to stop the disastrous murder of our forest, the Amazonian rainforest will disappear. It is said that the Amazonian rainforest could disappear in the next 100 years if actions are not taken. Moreover, without the Amazon, our chances at winning our battle against climate change is almost impossible. The Amazonian rainforest is important because it store 86 billion tons of carbon that would be released in the air if the forest were to disappear. Without the Amazonian rainforest, we would be destroying a huge part of the planet’s biodiversity as well as an entire ecosystem. The Amazonian rainforest is also necessary because we rely on its resources for food and medicine. Therefore, if it were destroyed, we would not be able to give necessary medicaments to people suffering from diseases, such as cancer. But most importantly, the amazon is one of the main sources of oxygen, without it, climate change would be at a faster pace. Overall, destroying the Amazonian rainforest would have huge impacts on biodiversity, climate change and medicine, it is why we need to take care of it and start protecting it.

The 4 main reasons for the deforestation are 1: agriculture, 2: extractives, 3: infrastructures, and 4: the fire.  

Agriculture: Because of the worldwide population, we must produce more everything to serve the demand asked (WWF).  This big demand needs a lot of resources and space. The agriculture industry is producing meat, veggies, soy, spices, etc. The number of demands impact the environment since the space need to be larger enough to produce enough for the demand.  

Extractives: The extractives activities contribute to the damage of the Amazonian Forest since they do not have a lot of regulations. They don’t talk a lot about the impact of the extractive’s activities, since it is basically a politic activity. The government mines to found resources and make more money so it is evident that they will not reveal the impact that it does on the environment. The use of the machine during the process of mining does not help to the climate change. I’m sure that these machine release co2 as other machineries like car and tractor of the agriculture.  

Infrastructure: The infrastructure also has an impact of the climate change since they need to transport many resources for the agriculture.  By example, the agriculture needs a lot of water to make plant grow and for the animal to drink, but the cost that this production need have an environmental cost. They must build central where they can put water, they need to use big car to transport effectively the water. I skip a lot of examples, but the infrastructure needs the deforestation to be made in order to have space.  

The fire: The fire is causing the deforestation too because it burns everything that is in its way.  This factor cannot be controlled by anyone since it is a natural response of the climate change. The excessive use of the soil, the irrigation of the soil and the deforestation cause the fire to show its strength and burn everything.   

What is palm oil?

Palm oil is produced from the pulp of the fruit of the palm oil tree. The tropical fruit is the size of an olive. It is made of only one seed used to produce palm oil. Every palm fruit contains from 30 to 35% of oil (“What is Palm Oil”, 2021 ). Even thought they have the same origin, the oil from the fruit of the palm tree and palm oil has a different composition in acid fat distinctly different.

But what is the problem with palm oil?

Under its actual form, the production of palm oil is responsible for an important deforestation that contributes to the disappearance of much specie, among others, orangutans. In addition, the production of palm oil needs highly toxic products. This makes the working conditions in the plantations despicable. The problem is that the requirements for palm oil has exploded. Oil palm plantations currently cover more than 27 million hectares of the Earth’s surface (“Palm oil – deforestation for everyday products”). According to Rainforest Rescue, palm oil is used in half the produces at the grocery stores. Moreover, 61% of the world’s palm oil consumption is used for biofuel, power, and heat while the other 39% is used for food, animal feed and chemical products.

According to Rainforest Rescue, palm oil-based biofuels have three times the climate impact of traditional fossil fuels. This makes palm oil far more dangerous for the earth, the quality of our air and the global warming. Furthermore, palm trees like humidity which makes the Amazonian rainforest the perfect target to grow palm oil. This means that everyday they are burning the Amazonian rainforest to make fuel our cars.

How can I make a change? Do my actions have an impact?

Yes, they do! Every action is important and by reducing your consumption of palm oil you will therefore decrease the demand on the market. Banning palm oil is not easy. Therefore, we suggest you start off easy, start by changing your Nutella to the Kirkland one, same taste better ingredients. By doing steps like this everyday it might promote other people to do the same as well.

The Amazonian rainforest is in multiple South American countries, and in majority in Brazil. This forest is crucial to the Earth’s wellbeing and its destruction would ultimately ruin the planet. This forest is unlike any other and holds 30% of the planet’s living beings along with 10% of the planet’s plants and ecosystems (Coll, 2016). This forest, that is also known as the “lungs of the planet” is the most important forest in the world. Despite this fact, it is currently being destroyed and is receiving no protection from Brazil and the other governments. No one seems to care that the lungs of our planet are being destroyed every day and that if we don’t make a change, we do not stand a chance at saving it. 

In contrary to its protection, it is actually being destroyed more and more every day. Its resources are being used by the government and big companies are buying them. “Over 43 million hectares, an area roughly the size of Morocco, was lost in these ‘deforestation fronts’ between 2004 and 2017” (World Wild Fund for Nature, 2020). The forest is home to approximately sixteen thousand different tree species and is composed of a total of approximately three hundred and ninety billion trees. This forest contains approximately two million living creatures and beings. This forest is like no other because of its ecological diversity and because it is the home to so many different species. Just in 2020, the deforestation rate has increased by approximately fifty-five percent (Costa, 2020). For all of these reasons, its destruction could result in a real catastrophe for the future of our planet, and we may not be able to recover from it.           

The continuous destruction of the forest, the deforestation, the illegal mining exploitation, the forest fires, and all the other destructions that go unseen are going to have repercussions on the planet that will soon become irreversible. 

We decided to take on this topic for our final project because we believe that this forest is one of the most important things to focus on when talking about climate change. There is no justice being served and the forest continues to be destroyed day by day, so we deem that it is crucial to talk about. The deforestation has been going on for way to long, and it needs to come to a stop rapidly. We want to educate ourselves more on this topic and learn how we can help as three college students, whom as of now feel helpless. The consequences of all the above information stated above is creating a huge negative impact on our generation, and we are having to suffer the consequences. It is now our job to protect the environment and do as much as we can to halt this climate crisis.