In the summer of 1988 there were eight thousand fires burning in the Amazon and the world was experiencing the hottest temperatures on record. I spent that summer traveling throughout Costa Rica taking photographs of the rainforest and of rainforest destruction.
That fall I gave a slide presentation to my Dodgeville High School students. They were amazed by the beauty and biodiversity of the rainforest, but appalled by the images of deforestation. They asked me what we could do. I said we could go door to door and raise funds to purchase rainforest that would become part of the International Children’s Rainforest in Monteverde, Costa Rica.
And so we did, and we raised $350 – enough to buy ten acres. What happened next was extraordinary. We mailed – yes mailed – letters to 10,000 biology teachers across the United States and asked them and their students to do what we had done. That is how Save The Rainforest got started.
Now it’s 33 years later and despite our efforts the fires are still burning and the temperature is still rising. So, what are we to do?
My answer to that question is this: We build on what has already been done, and using the tools of modern communication and our sense of urgency take the programs of Save The Rainforest to new heights. The launching of our new website designed by our Executive Director is the key to doing just this.
So, welcome to www.savetherainforestnow.org: Enjoy its aesthetics, take heart in its message, and most important of all, join us – walk with us – in our crusade to save tropical forests and mitigate climate change. If you won’t, who will?
Bruce Calhoun,
President of Save The Rainforest
