/World Cultures 11

Unit Latin America

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The Amazon Rainforest Internet Assignment

Purpose: This assignments goal is to expose you to basic facts about the Amazon rainforest as well as
introduce you to some of the wildlife and people that live inside it. You will also understand how the rainforest
affects the nations and people of South America and how it is facing unique challenges in the modern world.
Part I (Overview): Use www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon and follow the directions carefully to
complete this assignment.
1. Review the photograph. Choose one descriptive word (adjective) that comes to mind and explain how it
relates to the image.
- Large because it says how the rain forest is 1.4 billion acres of dense forests and half of the planets
remaining tropical forests.
2. Click on Overview and review the information, including the visuals. List the 8 nations that the
Amazon rainforest is located in
- Colombia
- Venezuela
-

Bolivia

- Guyana

Ecuador

- Peru

Brazil

- Suriname

3. Click on Forest Habitat and review the information there, including the visuals. A forest can vary based
on seve ral factors. What are these four factors?
- latitude
- rainfall
-

local soil

- prevailing temperatures

4. What makes rainforests special?

- The rainforests are the essential part of the earth and multiple people use the rainforests for the
livelihood.
5. Worldwide, how quickly is deforestation occurring? How quickly is it occurring in the Amazon? Use
statistics from the reading to explain your answer.
a. Worldwide 44-50 square miles are lost every year
b. Amazon lost 17% of its forest cover in the last half century.
6. Scroll down to the Why They Matter section. Scroll through the three images and review the captions.
List and explain why rainforests matter.
a. Depend on forests for hunting
b. Various array of resources for the people
c. Stores carbon dioxide.
7. Return to the main page (www.worldwildlife.org/places/amazon) and scroll down to the Species section.
Choose three animals found in the Amazon and describe them in the chart.
Animal
Description
Tiger
The amount of tigers are at the lowest it has ever been. 97% of tigers have been
lost throughout the century. They are the largest cats and depend on sight and
sound rather than hearing.

Animal
Polar Bear

Description
They spend most of their lives in the artic sea. They have a thick layer of skin to
keep them warm. They spend 50% of their time in the rain forest hunting for

Giant Panda

food.
They are the rarest members of the bear family. They normally live in the bamboo

forest in china high in the mountains. They eat 26-84 pounds of bamboo each day.
Part II (Native Peoples): Use www.survivalinternational.org/about/amazontribes to learn about the native
peoples of the Amazon rainforest.
8. How many people live in the Amazon rainforest, and how are they organized?
- 1 million Indians and are split up into 400 tribes with their own languages.
9. To what extent have they had contact with outsiders? Explain your response.
- Many Indians have had contact for over 500 years. The uncontacted have had no interaction.
10. Create a t-chart that compares and contrasts your daily life with that of the people of the Amazon. Include
at least four points of comparison.
- Amazon people- depend on the forests for food, hunting, water, and housing.
- My life- Depend on stores for the things I need. Water and housing is provided by my parents who own
the house and live in the house as well. Water is coming from a company. I dont need to rely on forests
for much.
11. Why are land rights so important to the Amazon tribes? Read the text and watch the video clip in the Land
= Life section to answer this question.
It is so important because outsiders come in and try to take their land. The outsiders dont know that the
rainforest to the Amazon tribes are very important to them for living, and using the resources.
12. Do you think most Americans agree with the viewpoint expressed by the woman in the video clip? Explain.
Yes because the woman in the video clip tells the viewers how important the resources and materials are to
them and how limited they are.
Part III (Current Challenges): Use www.theguardian.com/environment/amazon-rainforest to research
some of the current challenges facing the Amazon rainforest. Please be mature in handling photographs of
native people, as their dress is quite different from ours!
13. Choose articles that interest you about each of the topics in the chart. Read them and complete the chart.
Challenge
Impact (2 sentences)
Possible Solutions (2 sentences)
Stop cutting down the trees and start to
Deforestation When people cut down trees from the

Mining/Drilling

rainforest. When trees are cut down in the

really enforce recycling so there wouldnt

rainforest it takes away the most important

be that much of need to cut down the trees.

thing which is oxygen. If this does not stop,

People are forgetting the importance of

there will be less and less oxygen and fewer

trees.

people will be able to survive.

Causes the use of valuable materials. When

Stop the people from taking away the

Crime

they put important materials to use it takes

valuable materials from the rainforests.

away from peoples needs. This can cause

There should be another outlet to get the

the rainforests to run short on the materials

materials than just the Amazon Rainforest.

that are needed.

Many casualties like taking away things that They should get rid of the cartel. That
are theirs. When taking away something that would many of the crime problems. If they
is someone elses is stealing.

were not in use than these problems would

not occur.

14. Go to edition.cnn.com/2013/07/25/sport/football/football-brazil-world-cup-manaus/index.html and

review the article there. What challenges did the rainforest pose for Brazil in its efforts to prepare for the
2014 World Cup?
- They replaced a part of the rainforest with the 300 million dollar stadium to host the world cup. This
could affect the soccer games and how much rain Brazil will get.
15. How did the regions emphasis on environmental protection influence the stadium project?
- It made them think about how the rainforest helps so many people so why wouldnt they help the
rainforest continue to do that job.