From action.RAN.org

Did you know that gasoline and most plastic products are made from oil?

And did you know that much of this oil comes from the rainforest?

It's true. Oil drilling is one of the main reasons that rainforests around the world are being destroyed.

Oil companies go to the rainforest to drill for oil that is found beneath the ground. This oil or petroleum comes from the fossils of dinosaurs and plants that lived on earth millions of years ago. It then gets made into fossil fuels, including oil, gas, and coal. Oil is also used to make plastic bags, bottles, and cups, and synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon.

Large oil companies use millions of acres of rainforest to get oil. They want this oil so they can sell it to make a lot of money. There is nothing wrong with making money, but when oil companies destroy the rainforests to make money they destroy not only the trees, but also the lives of the animals and people who live in the rainforest.

Oil drilling hurts the rainforests because many trees are chopped down to make room for oil roads, oil pipelines, and oil machinery. When these trees are destroyed, all the animals that lived in those trees or depended on them for food are suddenly homeless. Without their forest home, many animal species face extinction, which means they could disappear forever like the dinosaurs.

Another problem is that when companies drill for oil in the rainforests, the oil often gets spilled onto the soil and into the rivers and streams. This poisons the water and the homeland of the people who live in the rainforest. Many of these indigenous people-people whose families have lived in the rainforest for thousands of years-become very sick from the pollution. Some of these indigenous people even die because of oil drilling in their homeland.

Not only does oil drilling poison the land and rivers in the rainforest, but it also creates air pollution once it's turned into gasoline. Burning fossil fuels like gasoline by driving cars, buses and airplanes, makes our air very dirty and unhealthy to breathe. Many people around the world get sick from breathing in too much of this smog or dirty air.

Burning oil and gasoline also makes the planet get warmer, which is a very big problem. This global warming creates climate change. This means that weather patterns around the world start to change in dangerous ways. Winters get colder, summers get hotter, and hurricanes and tornadoes get fiercer and more frequent.

Oil Is Not Necessary

Even though oil is currently used to drive our cars, fly our planes, operate our factories, and warm our homes, we really don't have to use oil for these things. We can use different things-or alternative resources-like the sun and the wind to make energy. Light and heat from the sun can be used to make solar power and windmills can be used to capture the power of the wind. The sun and the wind are great sources of energy because they don't destroy the rainforests or pollute the planet.

We can also use things other than oil to make plastic-like corn or the hemp plant, for instance. Since corn and hemp can be grown like crops, they do not hurt the rainforests or the planet when they are turned into plastic.

What Can We Do To Help?

Until our energy supply comes completely from alternative resources like the sun or the wind, many of us will need to use oil in our daily lives. By reducing the amount of oil we use, however, we can make a big difference to help the rainforests. There are many ways we can reduce the amount of oil we use each day.

First, instead of driving our cars everywhere, we can walk, ride our bikes, carpool, and take the bus or train whenever possible. We can also write to automobile companies asking them to make cars that run on alternative fuels that do not come from oil.

Second, we can use the sun as much as possible. We can hang our laundry outside to dry, warm up special bags of water for fun solar showers, and ask our parents to install solar heating panels on the top of our roof. Although solar panels may be expensive to buy at first, over time they'll save a lot of money-and they'll help save the rainforests!

Third, we can use less plastic by using glass, ceramic, metal, and cloth instead. Take a cloth bag with you to the market instead of using a plastic grocery bag. Use a glass or a ceramic mug to drink from instead of plastic cups, and when buying a drink, buy it in a glass bottle instead of a plastic bottle whenever possible.

Fourth, you can write to Ford Motor Company. Currently, Ford vehicles account for approximately one month of the United States’ annual oil consumption, an amount equal to the annual oil consumption of Italy. A few years ago Ford promised to make cars that use less oil, but they have broken that promise. Please write to Ford and ask them to make cars that use cleaner technologies, like hybrids and fuel cells.

• Write to:
• Mr. William Clay Ford, Jr. Chairman and CEO, Ford Motor Company
• The American Road
• Dearborn, MI 48120