Has anyone here ever walked through a rain forest ?

No,but I smoked one.And I spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express last night.WOOOOOHOOOOOO

LOL good one. Nicely done.

I would love to. Too bad it is disappearing fast.



The Disappearing Rainforests

* We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.

* One and one-half acres of rainforest are lost every second with tragic consequences for both developing and industrial countries.

* Rainforests are being destroyed because the value of rainforest land is perceived as only the value of its timber by short-sighted governments, multi-national logging companies, and land owners.

* Nearly half of the world's species of plants, animals and microorganisms will be destroyed or severely threatened over the next quarter century due to rainforest deforestation.

* Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists.

* Most rainforests are cleared by chainsaws, bulldozers and fires for its timber value and then are followed by farming and ranching operations, even by world giants like Mitsubishi Corporation, Georgia Pacific, Texaco and Unocal.

* There were an estimated ten million Indians living in the Amazonian Rainforest five centuries ago. Today there are less than 200,000.

* In Brazil alone, European colonists have destroyed more than 90 indigenous tribes since the 1900's. With them have gone centuries of accumulated knowledge of the medicinal value of rainforest species. As their homelands continue to be destroyed by deforestation, rainforest peoples are also disappearing.

* Most medicine men and shamans remaining in the Rainforests today are 70 years old or more. Each time a rainforest medicine man dies, it is as if a library has burned down.

* When a medicine man dies without passing his arts on to the next generation, the tribe and the world loses thousands of years of irreplaceable knowledge about medicinal plants.

I live in one. It rains a lot. This can be quite depressing.

Not bad, me Tarzan home in trees over big monkey's.

many here in the US don't realise there is a rain forest, in fact the ONLY temperate rain forest in the world right here in the Pacific NW

I've been through a bit of the Olympic rain forest, can't wait to get back and see more
its the only part of the US I've seen that looks like its out of Lord of the Rings, moss draped trees and walking on spongy growth

crazy

I dont see any way nature can be stopped. Can you shut down your sex drive ? Can you shut down your eating ? Can you shut down your going to the bathroom ? Breathing? Nature.

Can you shut down your health ? oh yea that one human beings can do.

I CAN SHUT MY MOUTH, CAN yOU?

Yes that does sound nice. And i knew there were rainforest in the US ....I think most people would be very surprised to realize just how much of this planet was covered in forest. Amazing. People would fall to their knees and scream out to God (even atheist) if they knew what has been lost.

And now we all live in a perpetual race track. AND PEOPLE LIKE IT !!!

:o)

As a MAN i find it hard to be quiet when there are things that need to be said. But i see your point. Maybe i shouldnt say anything at all. Let them find out for themselves.

The guy at the telephone booth with no legs walked through one.

If memory from my teens serves me correctly you can approximate that effect by adding a large quality of alcohol a bush like setting with a water obstacle that has to be crossed to get to point 'B'. The final step is to take-away the daylight factor, with/without clouds and a full moon the trip is essentially the same. In theory you will get your boots wet, in reality you have to end up swimming.

Save lots of travel expenses too LOL

When I was 6-8 yrs old we lived in a neighborhood that was carved out of the middle of a jungle. Miles of jungle surrounded the neighborhood, starting about 50 feet from our back door, and was forbidden. I ventured about 10 feet into it one day, and besides hearing more animal insect sounds, it felt different, slightly ominous and foreboding (imprinted by parental warnings of danger, who knows?) but it's an exciting experience I've not forgotten.

The same for me,man...I agree with you....It´s a matter of time for mother nature and father sun to finally get rid of us.....

I did and it was wonderful. Nothing like what I expected. I felt like traveling in time back to the cretaceous period, only without the danger of big dinosaurs roaming around.
Like you said; magical.

Yeah. I live in it too and it will depress the hell out of you if you let it.

OP, I dream of taking a long walk in the desert, imagining that to be magical.

I just know the grass is greener there, ya know?

Nah man, this is a very nice picture you paint, please continue to share.

wheres the guy with no legs pic?

Oh but the smell of earth and moss heavy and heady, the sun struggling through the canopy, the jewel green moted light filtered in, the massive rotting trunks of decaying stumps with tenacious seedlings sending their roots over and around, struggling for purchase on a collapsing foundation, the ferns that grab every shaft of light and collect the drops of moisture, the exhilaration that binds your soul and stores such delight in your memory forever...

Yes, 10 yrs ago, my friends and I watched a documentary on Lewis and Clark, I think it was ken burns

after watching it it dawned on all of us the irony that their travel west into a wild and open land actually caused the beginnings of that land to be developed and we all felt dissapointment that the wild west that was before them was lost for any other person of this country to see today

although you wouldn't know when you see a NY'er drive an hour or 2 north of the city and think he's in the boonies

Yeah. It smelled like napalm.

I did. I was dissapointed. I figured macadamia nuts would fly out of the trees with parrots flying down and plucking them from our lips, but that didn't happen. It was quite beautiful and encompassing an experience. It fills every sense. The sound is incredible.

Ohhhh that is Gold ...did you write that ??? That was beautiful. Very powerful.

Listen PACNWguy. When you respond to threads that are not about politics or war and you say derogatory things about the thread topic then you make yourself out to be the total bad guy. Then that makes it hard for anyone to see you as anything else but the bad guy when you try to make a point when you're trying to be the "good guy" in your politics or war threads. Just thought i would point that out.

Just remembering what it's like to walk through a rain forest...it makes you feel small and it makes you want to grow.

It really did smell like naplam. But ok...I wont rain on your rain forest thread.

Sorry

Ok i got to say thats a cute picture lol Hard to go wrong with cats and dogs.

It's worse than you think. I have done it many times, since here in Brazil we have a lot of them. Anyway, it's dirty, has a lot of mosquitos (which are a pain in the ass, specially if you're not protected), a lot of bugs, etc.
It's pretty much the same as Lost jungle adventures, but with much more dense vegetation and bugs²³¹³²¹.

But, if you have the proper gear to explore that's a hell of a adventure! :)

BUT, there are many pros. The view is usually awesome and so is the sound. So it's very relaxing and gives you the felling of inner peace, it's awesome! :)

That's all!

Yes, in Dominica during a cruise I walked in one and it was very interesting the trees and humidity, there was this deep well pond in the middle where I and many others just had to jump in, it was a very memorable exeperience.

Saw some awesome waterfalls as well, but only from a distance, even so, pretty cool

thanks for reminding me of this beauty