Group 4

How have people of Latin America negatively impacted to there environment?
Holli T, Colby T, Celine H, Macall M, Patrick M

People of Latin America negatively impacted their environment because:

* Venezuela is the biggest oil produce out side of the middle east
* Brazil is the biggest producer of hydroelectric power
* Because of the cutting down of rain-forests, global warming is increasing. The rain-forest holds a large amount of carbon, so when trees in the rain-forest are cut down, it is not good for the environment
* They need wood to use for furniture, buildings, food products, and even paper.
* They are now causing extinction to animals which causes extinction to other animals and so on.
* they are oil drilling in rain forests and this is one of the main reasons why rain forests are being destroyed.
* Half of the worlds animals live in the rain forest and if there's no more rain forests it will create extinction for all of the other animals because if the animals get extincted it would effect other animals in the world over time.
* Global warming is one of the most urgent issues for our time and some of this is by cutting down and burning rain forests and which causes co2 and this causes global warming.
* Global Warming: One of the main greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide (CO2). As trees grow they take in CO2 from the air. When the wood dies the CO2 is returned to the air. Forest clearance and wood burning (such as happens in tropical rain forests) is increasing the latter half of the process, adding to the CO2 in the atmosphere. Deforestation is now out of control. For example in 1987 an area of the Amazon rain forest the size of Britain was burned, adding 500 million tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. The loss of the forests also means that there are fewer trees to absorb CO2.
* File:Global Warming Predictions Map.jpg



The people of Latin America negatively impact the environment in a number of different ways. For instance, rain-forests. The trees in the rain-forest are being cut down and burned to put nutrients in the ground for the grass to grow taller and better for cattle ranching. This releases a large amount of carbon, which is unhealthy for the environment. Also, when animals that live in the rain-forest loose their habitat, they become endangered and eventually will die out if there is nowhere else to live. This will effect other species in the food web. Venezuela is the biggest oil produce out side of the middle east, also many oil companies come and drill and use many acres of land. Which means they are oil drilling in the rain-forests and this is one of the main reasons why forest are being destroyed. This means all of the homes of the animals and peoples are being destroyed which leads to the food chain when all of the animals die off because they don't have anywhere to live. Now all of our animals will disappear forever like the dinosaurs. Now all of the oil companies are taking a large portion of the rain-forest. Global warming is one of the most important things that is going on and that have a negative effect on the world from the humans.

Sources:
Rain-forest Action Network; www.Ran.org; Facts about beef; Facts about oil
Mr. Biederbeck in Social Studies Class
www.Google.com; www.Wikipedia.com; rain-forest