I usually don't forward emails but there is only one Brazilian rainforest.
Brazilian congress is now voting on a project that will reduce the amazon
forest to 50% of its size. The area to be deforested is 4 times the size of
Portugal and would be mainly used for agriculture and pastures for live stock...
All the wood is to be sold to international markets in the form of wood chips,
by multinational companies... The truth is that the soil in the amazon forest is
useless without the forest itself. Its quality is very acidic and the region is
prone to constant floods. At this time more than 160.000 square kilometers
deforested with the same purpose, are abandoned and in the process of becoming
deserts.
We cannot let this happen. Copy the text into a new email, put your complete
name in the list below, and send to everyone you know. (Don't just forward it
cause then it will end up with rows of >>>'s )
If you are the 100th person to sign please send a copy to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thank you.
Origins: There is indeed
"only one Brazilian rainforest" -- in the Amazon, an area twice as
large as the country of France and the home to about half of all the plant and
animal species in the world. The Amazon was relatively untouched until the
1970s, but since then its size has been reduced by about 14% due to logging and
farming activities which continue to destroy another six to seven thousand
square miles per year.
Brazil's current Forest Code, established in 1965, requires landowners to
protect a minimum of 80% of their pristine rain forest land holdings from
development. A draft law recently put before the Brazilian Congress proposed
that the minimum area of protection be reduced from 80% to 50% (and that the
minimum be reduced from the current 50% to 20% in savannah areas as well). The
proposed law was shelved by Brazil's Congress on 18 May 2000, so
the specifics of this petition are now outdated (and the e-mail address given is
no longer valid).
Additional
information:
;)
Historic Victory for
Brazilian Amazon (forests.org)
Last updated: 15 February
2001
The URL for this page is
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/brazil.htm
Click here to e-mail
this page to a friend
Urban Legends Reference Pages � 1995-2002
by Barbara and David P.
Mikkelson
This material may not be reproduced without permission
Sources:
- Bellos, Alex. "Brazilian Bill Threatens
Rainforest."
- The Guardian. 12 May 2000 (p.
17).
- Pearce, Fred. "Poverty and Corruption and
Rapidly Destroying the Great Tropical Rainforests."
- New Scientist. 10 June 2000 (p.
16).
- Veash, Nicole. "Brazilian Farmers Set to
Destroy Rainforest."
- The Scotsman. 8 December 1999 (p.
11).
- Associated Press. "Environmentalists
Welcome Brazilian Amazon Reserve Package."
- 31 March 2000.
- CNN.com. "Brazilians Hold Funeral for
Amazon Rain Forest."
- 22 May 2000.
- The Economist. "Bungle in the
Jungle."
- 19 February 2000.
- The Economist. "Still Chopping."
- 29 April 2000.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 5:12
PM
Subject: Off/ Amazon forest
cutdown/global climate change/ change to new crops?
Andrew Wellen wrote:
Sorry if you already got this. Hope it's current. If you have time...
please copy and sign
The Brazilian congress is now voting on a project that will reduce the
Amazon forest to 50% of its size. It will take 1 MINUTE to read this,
but
PLEASE put your names on the list and forward this on. The area
to be
deforested is 4 times the size of Portugal and would be mainly
used for
agriculture and pastures for livestock. All the wood is to be
sold to
international markets in the form of wood chips, by large
multinational
companies. The truth is that the soil in the Amazon forest
is useless
without the forest itself. It's quality is very acidic and
the region is
prone to constant floods. At this time more than 160,000
square
kilometres deforested with the same purpose are abandoned and in
the process
of becoming deserts. Deforestation and the subsequent
processing of the
woodchips on this scale will also release huge amounts
of carbon which
is currently locked up in the wood back into the
atmosphere worsening the
problem of climate change. We just cannot let
this happen. Please copy
the text into a 'new email', put your complete
name in the list below and
send to everyone you know.
DON'T JUST FORWARD IT THOUGH AS IT WILL THEN END UP
WITH ROWS AND
ROWS of >'s.
If you are the 500th person to sign please send a
copy to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED].
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
br <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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