The Amazon Teacher’s Guide
The Rain Forest is Closer Than You Think!
To
most people, tropical rain forests seem like faraway
places that we might dream of
visiting. In fact, plant pieces of the mysterious rainforest puzzle
play important roles in our daily
lives that we either are not aware of or take
for granted. Open your closets, medicine cabinets, garages,
refrigerators and pantries. Visit a
florist, a hospital, a bakery, a theatre,
a hardware store, candy store, not
to mention a grocery store, and you
will quickly realize that rain forests are closer
than you think!
Jungle Produce
Every
year the average American consumes more than 25 pounds of bananas,
and today there are few places in the world where it is not possible
to buy a banana. Introduced to Europe in 1882, bananas were the
first rain forest fruit discovered
by westerners and were originally available by prescription
only. Oranges originally came from
the rain forest, as did lemons, limes,
and grapefruits. Tomato, potato, pineapple
and papaya, cashews, coffee, cloves
and corn, all have wild
roots in tropical rain forests or other tropical habitats
near rain forests. A recent tour at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
entitled, “ Ten Plants That Shook the
World,” included six history-changing plants that originated
in the tropics (sugar cane, corn, bamboo, rubber, quinine, and pepper).
Count the number of tropical fruits
for sale at your local grocery store. It is only a fraction
of the 3,000 types of fruits that grow in the world's tropical rain
forests!
While you're thanking the rain forest for favorite
foods, thank it for life-changing, life-saving medicines,
woods, fibers, canes and oils, gums,
resins, dyes and houseplants.
Just A Blip On the Screen of Possibilities
Describing
the plants of a tropical rain forest
is a little like trying to describe the people
of New York City or Los Angeles. The plants are every bit as diverse
as the people of these two large cities. In spite of decades of
exploration and exploitation, scientists
have only thoroughly examined about
1% of the hundreds of thousands of rain forest plants. Besides being
good for people, new jungle products
could be good for the jungle too, if they are properly managed.
In many ways, some of which we don't even understand yet, all of
us have a stake in the welfare
of tropical rain forests and of the people, wildlife, and plants
that thrive in them.
