Hobbies And Interests
Food
A wide range of the planet's foods initially grew only in the rain forest. Fruits native to the rain forest include avocados, bananas, pineapples, oranges and lemons. The Amazon contains more than 2,000 types of fruit, only a small number of which the developed world regularly eats. In addition to fruits, other plants such as corn, peanuts, vanilla and cashews originally grew in rain forests. While many of these plants have been domesticated and grown by farmers across the globe, they initially grew only in rain forests.
Carbon Cycle
Rain forests play a key role in regulating the amount of carbon in the air. The plants of the rain forest create energy and food by photosynthesis, which draws carbon dioxide from the air. This process is a large part of the carbon cycle, which is the long process by which carbon is transferred from the air to the land and back again. As people burn fossil fuels, they release carbon into the atmosphere, and the trees of the rain forest help to reabsorb this carbon. Another by-product of the photosynthesis process is oxygen, and scientists estimate that the Amazon rain forest alone produces 20 percent of the world's oxygen.
Wood
Many of the world's hardwoods come from the rain forests of the world. Loggers in Brazil, Southeast Asia and the Congo harvest tree species like teak, mahogany and Malaysian hardwood for export. People use the wood from these trees for hardwood flooring, furniture, boat fixtures and ornamental wooden carvings and other decorations.
Medicine
According to Elon University, more than 121 global medicines, including 25 percent of those that Western countries currently use, derive from plants that grow in the rain forest. Because only 1 percent of rain forest plant species have been tested for medical uses, scientists believe that the rain forest may hold substantially more medicinally useful plants.