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The Pain of the Amazon from
Human Greed?

Jo Min-ji

A new environmental problem, a big Picture 1: The burning Amazon
problem for our society, is emerging
these days. While global warming
remains a challenge for humans to
solve and is actually accelerating as
we use more fossil fuels and increase
our carbon dioxide emissions, we need
even more plants that emit oxygen and
absorb the carbon dioxide that causes
the greenhouse effect. In other words,
rainforests are the best tools to slow
down global warming.

Nicknamed the "lungs of the Earth,"
the Amazon is 70 times the size of Korea. It is the largest rainforest on Earth and is home to a variety
of animals and plants. It is also responsible for about 20% of the world's total oxygen production and
absorbs carbon dioxide from the Earth, helping slow the rate of global warming.

However, the Amazon, with its important role, was on fire for about a month last August. This burned
down an area of more than 605 square kilometers1). In other words, an area about 15 times the size of
Seoul disappeared due to the massive forest fire.

The forest fires in the Amazon are caused by people being allowed to cut trees and raise livestock for
industry in the area. In other words, people were acting with thoughts only for their own profits and not
thinking about the problems that would arise. In the end, the fire was caused by the greed of people and
was purely deliberate.

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1) square kilometers 평방(제곱) 킬로미터. ㎢

56 MYEONG-SHIN GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL