An insect crawls upon a plant which sprouts from a tree. And the tree grows up from another, fallen tree. It is like this everywhere in the rainforest. Layer upon layer of life create something far beyond a sum of parts. This world is an intricate collaboration between species. Here, life competes but does not destroy without some accounting for the future. There is, of course, one exception.

From an airplane window, the Amazon Rainforest seems infinite. It is not. Wounds left by humans are easy to spot, like holes in the forest. Lumber mills spew death like insatiable monsters along river banks near Iquitos, Peru. But the huge mounds of sawdust and timber offer only a small hint to scale of destruction.

It took millions of years for the world�s rainforests to become the incomprehensible cauldrons of life that they are today. Yet these precious lands are being leveled in the blink of an eye. The current rate of rainforest destruction is about 90 acres per minute. Forty-five million years ago rainforests covered much of the planet. In 1950, 15% of the Earth�s land surface was rainforest. Within a few years, there will likely be just 7% left.

Despite a rise in public concern in recent years, the pace of destruction has not slowed significantly. In the 1980s the average rate of rainforest loss was 12.8 million hectares per year. From 1991 through 1995, an average of 12.6 million hectares were destroyed. Considering that only 6% of the world�s rainforests have any official protection, the worst is possible and perhaps inevitable. But what will we lose if the rainforests vanish?

The practical value of rainforests is well established. They play a vital role in shaping the atmosphere and its weather patterns, to which basic human needs such as food and water are tied tight. They are also home to an incredible density of life. So much, in fact, that is still mostly unknown. To date, science can only offer names for about 1.5 million species globally. This barely scratches the surface of our planet�s estimated ten to 100 million species. And no where but in the rainforests is so much life packed within such relatively small areas. For example, North America has about 700 species of native trees in total. Compare that with the 300 species of trees once identified within just 2.5 acres of the Amazon Rainforest. One in five of all the world�s birds live in the Amazon. The magnitude of insects and microoganisms is incomprehensible to most. The numbers just go too high. Still, beyond this wealth of life, there is something more than number-crunching and rainfall patterns to make humankind�s attack on the rainforests unacceptable.

We risk losing something deep and personal to our species by burning down these Edens. They are a part of us, and we are a part of them. It comforts me to know that there are places on this Earth where the leaves grow so thick that the sun�s rays barely touch the ground. I smile at the thought of ants living out hectic lives in a little universe they have helped sustain for millions of years. I am whole because there a wild places on Earth. If we erase the rainforests and reduce nature to a few parks and pets, then we will have diminished ourselves and the Earth forever.

The wealthy nations of North America and western Europe cashed in at nature�s expense long ago. Today, developing nations such as Brazil and Peru are simply doing the same thing. They have been hit with heavy criticism from the wealthy nation, yet they are expected to cover most of the conservation costs within their borders. Environmental programs are a hard sell in countries faces with serious poverty and crime problems. The rich countries have the money needed to save the world�s rainforests. Only the will is lacking. Sadly, it seems that they are far too busy pursuing yet more wealth to notice that an even higher wealth is going up in smoke.

Statistics would seem to doom the rainforests, but pessimism fades fast when one is lost in the green. In a deep forest of Papua New Guinea, I smelled the smoke of burning fires as death shared my space. But even as people burned the forest within a mile of me, I found hope. I spotted a waterfall made tiny by the depth of a vast valley. Its waters likely had rolled on for centuries. I could not imagine its end or the forest�s end.

In Australia�s Daintree, the world�s oldest living rainforest, I met tourists from many different countries and backgrounds. Some were rich, some not so rich. Some were highly educated, and some clearly were not. But with almost identical words they spoke of their awe and respect for the rainforest. I listened to them talk about how important it is to save the rainforests.