There are many reasons why the rain forests are so important to us.  Each of the mini-articles below, in some way or another,  tell about the importance of the rain forests.  However, there are many other reasons rain forests are important besides those stated here.

    Rain forests play an important role in the atmosphere because they hold lots of carbon in their plant life.  When rain forests are burned, or the trees are cut and left to decay, the carbon is released into the air as CO2, carbon dioxide.  This contributes to the greenhouse effect.  However, when the plant life of the rain forests is left alone, it aborbs CO2.  Plants take in CO2 and give out oxygen.  Human take in oxygen and give out CO2.  The more plant life in the rain forests, the better the atmosphere!

    Did you know that many of the items you have around your house came from or are made from things found in rain forests.
Here are some
examples:

avicado    bananas
chocolate  rubber
gum          lemons
peanuts    sugar
ochids      oranges
cola          papayas
cinnamon  coffee

    Much of the medicine that is used today comes from plants.  Of these plant medicines,  about 70% of them come from plants only found in the rain forests.  Drugs used to treat childhood leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and other cancers come from the rain forests  Medicines for heart ailments, hpyertension, and arthrities also come from rain forests.  Fewer than 1% of tropical rain forest species have been throughly examined for their chemical compounds.  Given that fact, think about all of the other medicines still waiting to be discovered!