"If tropical forests continue to be cleared at the current rate, at least 225 million hectares (556 million acres) will be cleared by th eyear 2000; if destruction of the tropical rain forests continues unabated, an estimated 10 to 20 per cent of the earth's plant and animal life will be gone by the year 2000."

J. Gustave Speth, President, World Resources Institute

Much of what we consider our wildlife is not just our wildlife. It travels north or south on migration routes and is susceptible to acid rain and other pollution from as far away as the middle of the continent.

Many of the same migrants facing pressure in their Canadian nesting grounds face equal pressure in their winter habitat and along the migration routes themselves. As more tropical rain-forests are lost to bulldozers and slash-and-burn farming, we can expect to see fewer and fewer of these migrants. This is just one of many reasons tropical deforestation must be stopped. Yet it is not enough to stop the cutting of the rainforest. We must set a good example in the rest of North America - in fact, far less damage has been done to the rainforests than to the forests of this continent, although they are quickly catching up.

What you can do:

1. Join a rainforest action group and try to look at the big picture. It is not enough to tell people to preserve their trees because we are worried about global warming. We must provide markets for other forest products, such as the wide variety of nuts now being sustainably harvested. These groups also work to get governments and banks to cooperate in debt for land swaps, so that pressure is removed to liquidate every available asset.

World Wildlife Fund
60 St. Clair Ave. East, Suite 201
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1N5

Friends of the Earth
251 Lau0rier Ave. West, Suite 701
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J6

The Rainforest Action Network
301 Broadway, Suite A
San Francisco, California 94133

Western Canada Wilderness Committee
20 Water St.
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 1A4

The Rain Forest Foundation
P.O. Box 757
Plainville, Connecticut 06062

Probe International
100 College Street
Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L5

2. Make sure our own governments are protecting Canadian forests and harvesting them in a sustainable manner, one that benefits humans and wildlife. Local groups here are working on these issues, as well as national and international organizations.

Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island
126 Richmond St., Rm. 1
Charlottetown, P.E.I. C1A 1H9

Conservation Council of N.B.
180 St. John St.
Fredericton, N.B E3B 4A9

Ecology Action Centre
3115 Veith St., 3rd floor
Halifax, N.S. B3K 3G9

Canada's Future Forest Alliance
Box 224
New Denver, B.C. V0G 1S0

3. Keep up the pressure for clean air legislation (reducing global warming and acid rain) and ecological reserves worldwide. These are just a few of the many groups working on these key environmental issues.

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
160 Bloor St. East, Suite 1150
Toronto, Ont. M4W 1B9

Pollution Probe
12 Madison Ave.
Toronto, Ontario M5R 2S1

Greenpeace Canada
578 Bloor St. West
Toronto, Ontario M6G 1K1

4. Recycle paper and use recycled paper products whenever possible. For every ton of paper produced, 17 trees die. Recycled paper requires 50% less energy to produce than virgin paper and its manufacture results in 35% less water pollution. Reusing paper is the first step (computer paper printed on one side only and envelopes are much too valuable to use only once). When you must buy paper and paper products, look for recycled paper with a high content of `post-consumer waste'. This means that it has a lot of fibre recovered from office paper recycling programs.

The Paper Source,
Fallbrook, Ontario K0G 1A0,

is one good outlet, and many printers and stationery stores now carry supplies made from recycled material.