In 2019, my family and I went to visit Peru as a vacation, just to relax in a world away from academics and work. Keep in mind that this all occurred before the virus arrived. Upon arrival, I immediately noticed the altitude difference and the cultural separation that was obvious, but that didn’t stop us from visiting some of the country’s most beautiful scenic spots. We saw hills with colored pigments that made it look like rainbows, ancient stone structures from Machu Picchu, and old temples that resided on the slopes of huge mountains. Contrary to lots of other opinions, the thing that struck me the most was the Amazon rainforest.
We spent around four days living on the side of the Amazon river in an ecolodge. An “ecolodge” is a conservative effort to protect damage that can possibly be inflicted on Amazon wildlife and its natural resources. Instead of building large luxury hotels with swimming pools and marble lounges, the country decided that they wanted to minimize the harm that could occur by building these lodges that are made of eco-friendly material, where human waste won’t affect the environment and the location of the lodge would have minimal impact on its surroundings.
It really did feel different living in the complete wilderness and just hearing rainforest noises while sleeping. All the rooms were basically elevated huts made mostly of wood with a small bathroom. I’m guessing they had to elevate the rooms because of all the wildlife crawling around on the floor. Almost every day you could look up and see a monkey nestled around a tree branch and lazily glancing around him. Since there was also no internet or data, it was incredibly different from our normal lives.
We did a few activities with the eco-lodge staff, including a river caiman search and a night walk into the woods. Both of them were very interesting, and we were lucky enough to spy some caiman (small versions of crocodiles/alligators) resting on river banks and spot a large tarantula sitting on top of leaves just a few feet away from us.
Enough of the small talk, I know what you all are thinking. Why is he telling this to all of us? Well, for one, I wanted to raise awareness of the raw beauty that the rainforest holds, the wonderful wilderness that can be found nowhere else. I also wanted to bring attention to the things that may eventually destroy the natural ecosystem, such as fires, industrialization, and deforestation, to name a few.
What’s threatening the Amazon rainforest?
The Amazon rainforest is facing many major threats like modern industrial projects, erosion that comes from deforestation, overfishing of the beautiful Amazon river, and the degradation of natural waters. This all contributes to destroying the local economy and the local people. If we can’t preserve this international treasure right now, what makes us able to protect it in the future?
If we don’t act now, our younger generations will always be there to remind us of that. The same thing goes for endangered animals, our food supplies, and even how we respond to this current COVID-19 pandemic will set a precedent for the future. What we are doing right now matters, and we should act now.
What can I do to help?
The biggest recent problem with the Amazon rainforest is the constant burning that it is going through. Public awareness has been extremely late, causing large initial burns that occurred without most of the world acknowledging it.
One of the most important ways to treat this is by bringing this to attention in our local communities and society. Only this way we can bring bigger amounts of people together united to face one problem.
Many different trust funds are allowing regular people like you and me to buy acres of the Amazon rainforest to prevent digging and deforestation since we own the land.
You should also keep in mind to reduce your wood and paper consumption, this is a really efficient way to reduce commercial pressure that is apparent on the rainforest.
There are many ways to help contribute your part to preserve the Amazon rainforest, but I’ve just only unlocked the door. You have to open it.
For more information, please go the WWF’s article on protecting the Amazon.