Rainforests act as the lungs of our world; they absorb pollution and create oxygen to help sustain our planet. The world’s rainforests also help to stabilize climate and to moderate our weather.

A recent study focusing on the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest found that certain aspects could return surprisingly quickly -- within 65 years. However, for the landscape to regain its native identity would take up to 4,000 years.

According to Leslie Taylor in a book published in 2004, at the rate rainforests are currently being cut down, humans could see the end to our world’s rainforests in our lifetime. This is a scary proposition that we must collectively do whatever we can to reverse the trend.

Harvesting forests for hardwood or in preparation for agriculture employs a method called slash and burn, whereby any branches of wood or undergrowth not harvested is burned. Nothing is left to sustain life or to encourage new growth.

Consumers in the United States and other developed countries must put pressure on companies to use sustainable practices and reward companies or businesses that make ethical decisions. When timber is harvested with sustainability in mind, both companies and the rainforest are winners.

The equivalent of one acre of rainforest is cut down every two seconds around the world. This is an astonishing amount of rainforest that is most likely lost forever and the devastation is already having a negative impact on our environment.

Periwinkle grows naturally in the rainforest; it is harvested in the springtime and the powerful anticancer drug Vincristine is derived from this plant. This drug has dramatically increased survival rates from acute lymphocytic leukemia.

The National Cancer Institute has named many plants that protect against cancer, and 70 percent of these are found in the rainforest. There are active ingredients in hundreds of disease fighting drugs that originate from plants found in rainforests.

In the world’s rainforests, there are phenomenal amounts of unexplored area where no human has ever set foot. There are also undiscovered indigenous peoples that remain untouched by civilization living their traditional lives in rainforests.

Medicine men that take care of indigenous people in the rainforest carry a wealth of knowledge about plants that heal and enrich our lives. The ancient wisdom of the rainforests' indigenous people and their healers should be respected by all.