World Cultures 11

Unit Latin America

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Block:_______
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.
A word that would describe this photograph is vast. The Amazon Rainforest is huge and almost seems never
ending in a way. There are endless trees for as long as you can see as well as the long Amazon River that runs
through the entire forrest.
Click on Overview and review the information, including the visuals. List the 8 nations that the Amazon
rainforest is located in.
- Brazil
- Columbia
-

Bolivia

- Venezuela

Peru

- Guyana

Ecuador

- Suriname

2. Click on Forest Habitat and review the information there, including the visuals. A forest can vary based
on several factors. What are these four factors?
- Latitiude
- Rain
-

Soil

- Temperatures

3. What makes rainforests special?

There are so many different types of species in the rainforest. They have most of the species in the world.
Several different ecosystems are living throughout the rainforest. People and subcultures have been living in
the rainforest for years now.
4. 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 46-58 million square miles each year
b. Amazon Lost about 17% of the forest this past year
5. Scroll down to the Why They Matter section. Scroll through the three images and review the captions.
List and explain why rainforests matter.
a. Millions of people deopend of forests for hunting, gathering and medicine. Forests produce
many products such as rubber and rattan.
b. Forest trees hold in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it away.
c. Eighty percent of the worlds plant and animal species can be found in forests.
6. 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
Tiger

Description
Tiger numbers are at an all-time low. We have lost about 97% of all our tigers
over the past century. Only about 3,200 exist today. They can get up to 220-660

Orangutan

lbs. and are about 4-10 feet in length. Mainly live in forests around the world.
They are endangered with about 48,500 left in the world. They get up to about

Chimpanzee

200 lbs. The name orangutan means man of the forest in Malayan language.
Also endangered with about 172,700-299,700 left in the world. They usually live
in moist and dry forests. They are highly social animals and can live to be over

50 years old.
Part II (Native Peoples): Use www.survivalinternational.org/about/amazontribes to learn about the native
peoples of the Amazon rainforest.
7. How many people live in the Amazon rainforest, and how are they organized?
It is home to 1 million Indians. They are divided into about 400 tribes with their own languages.
8. To what extent have they had contact with outsiders? Explain your response.
Most have had contact with outsiders for about 500 years. Some other tribes dont have any contact with other
tribes at all.
9. 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.
Us:

Tribes:
Go to school
Live in a single house
Go on vacations
Go to the grocery store

Eat local fruits and hunted meals

Barely any schooling
Move a lot
Hunt to live

10. 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.
People of these areas have no legal rights to live so they get taken advantage of and consistently get their land
taken away from them. All their needs come from the land they live on (food and shelter).
11. Do you think most Americans agree with the viewpoint expressed by the woman in the video clip? Explain.
I think most people believe they should be allowed to live in these areas since they lived there for years and
years. I think it is unfair that they are getting their land taken away so I believe people would agree they
should still have all that land.
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!

12. 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)
Deforestation
Takes away from the peoples resources
To fix this we could spread awareness

Mining/Drilling

Crime

they need to live with. It also kills animals

throughout the world. We could pull

that live there. Some of those animals they

resources from other areas to help the

use for food.

Dams and mining killed many fish. This

people and animals.

People could build dams in other areas.

creates a negative impact on the local nature

This could help protect all the nature and

and environment.
Tribal people are getting killed. Drug

animals in these areas.

We could spread awareness for this as well.

trafficking, logging and other things are the

Protection systems could be built to help aid

cause of this.

these people.

13. 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?
The harsh weather conditions are always a problem in the Amazon. Two rivers meet where one stadium
is being built, this could create problems because they are two different types of water that eventually flow
into the Amazon River. The weather can create problems during the games since it rains so often plus there
is a lot of high speed winds that could affect the game. They also have limited time to build because of the
rainy season begins in December.
14. How did the regions emphasis on environmental protection influence the stadium project?
They made the stadium sustainable to take all the harsh weather conditions. Natives of the Amazon and
other areas in Brazil like to reuse their recourses so the wind and sun will be used to create energy for
the stadium.