Happy World Rainforest Day!

I'm not done with environmental holidays.  After celebrating National American Eagle Day plus an early National Seashell Day and World Giraffe Day on the Summer Solstice, I am now observing World Rainforest Day.

June 22 is World Rainforest Day. The day has been set aside to help protect rainforests by raising awareness and encouraging action to protect them.

Organizers of this annual day say 20% of the oxygen we breathe and the freshwater we drink is attributed to rainforests of the Amazon. They absorb carbon dioxide, stabilize climate patterns, and are home to half the world’s plant and animal species. The concern of organizers is that an area the size of 40 football fields is lost every minute of every day.

HOW TO OBSERVE

Nurture your knowledge by reading about rainforests on National Geographic’s website.

Shop smart. Look for Rainforest Alliance Certified products.

When buying palm oil, look for Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) or Green Palm logo.

On social media, use #WorldRainforestDay and share why rainforests matter to you.

Follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/worldrainforestday/

HISTORY

The first World Rainforest Day was June 22nd, 2017. It was created by a collaboration of groups called the Rainforest Partnership. It is an international non-profit organization based in Austin, Texas and is dedicated to protecting and regenerating tropical rainforests through community-based projects in the Amazon.

Follow over the jump for the videos I found for this international day.

I'm going to give a boost to the first activity with a link by sharing Rainforests 101 from National Geographic.

Rainforests are home to over half of the world's plant and animal species. Learn about tropical and temperate rainforests, how they contribute to the global ecosystem, and the conservation efforts being done to protect these biomes.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see that National Geographic included temperate rain forests in its discussion; the biome that includes the redwood forests doesn't get as much attention as the tropical rain forests, although that's probably because they're smaller and better protected.  Just the same, this video should give my readers a head start on educating themselves about rainforests at National Geographic.  I also followed the advice from National Day Calendar and liked and followed the World Rainforest Day page on Facebook.

Just to reinforce the message, the Rainforest Partnership uploaded a video to YouTube yesterday answering the question Why World Rainforest Day?

World Rainforest Day is an opportunity to celebrate this precious natural resource and take action to preserve it. World Rainforest Day partners are the catalyst to influence millions of people’s awareness by encouraging behaviors that will have a collective positive impact on rainforests.

Of course, environmentalists have been all about saving the rainforest for decades.  Haven't these efforts borne any fruit?  Seeker/DNews answers that question affirmatively but conditionally in What Ever Happened To Saving The Rainforest?

The efforts to save the Amazon rainforest actually did save it. However, new threats have arisen to combat conservation efforts.

I mentioned the reversal in Brazilian rainforest policy in 2013, when I linked to Legal uncertainty cuts progress against Amazon deforestation in Sustainability headlines from Reuters for 6/10/13.  I can just imagine that the election of Jair Bolsonaro will just make the policy environment even worse.  Yes, there is need for a World Rainforest Day and more activism.

Speaking of environmental days, I missed the inaugural World Reef Awareness Day on June 1st and World Environment Day on June 5th.  I'll try to remember both next year.

That's it for holidays until Asteroid Day.  Stay tuned for a double Sunday entertainment feature tomorrow including this year's version of drum corps shows with speculative fiction themes and the winners of the MTV Movie & TV Awards.