World Cultures 11

Unit Latin America

Name:________________________
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.
Beautiful and it shows all the good pictures of all the animals are so amazing.
2. Click on Overview and review the information, including the visuals. List the 8 nations that the
Amazon rainforest is located in.
- Bolivia
- Brazil
-

Venezuela

Guyana

Suriname

- Ecuador
- Peru
- Colombia

3. 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?
- Supplies oxygen
- Provides timbers
-

Protects the watersheds

- Provides habitat for animals

4. What makes rainforests special?

It special because of its migrating climate change because it soaks up carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gasses that would still be lingering in the air causing ongoing change in climate patterns.
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 cutting down trees at an alarming rate since we use it for many different
things like agriculture, fires, clear-cutting ranch and development.
b. Amazon Lost about 17% of the forest cover because of deforestation.
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. Unique animal species are found in the forest and their habitat.
b. People depend on the forest to hunt, medicine and products like rubber. Food source, wood,
fresh water and air that we breathe.
c. Forest tree and other plants use the carbon dioxide to store and thrive for themselves.
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
Jaguars

Description
Jaguars are strong swimmers and climbers and require large areas of
tropical rain forest and stretches of riverbank to survive

Black Spider Monkey

Also known as the Guiana or red-faced spider monkeyis found in eastern

Sloths

South America in areas north of the Amazon River.

They are slow tree swingers, moving only 40 yards per day while eating

twigs, leaves and buds. Has low metabolism and sleeps 15-20 hours a 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?
One million natives live in the Amazon Rainforest and are divided into 400 different tribes. That have
their own culture, language and territory.
9. To what extent have they had contact with outsiders? Explain your response.
Some of the tribes have had contact with outsides. But there are other tribes that do not have any contact
with the outsiders and never had any contact ever.
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.

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.
The land rights are very important to the Amazon Tribes because without land they wouldn't be able to
have a life. And they want to live off of nature by planting things, and if they were to go anywhere else
then there would not be any land to live off of.
12. Do you think most Americans agree with the viewpoint expressed by the woman in the video clip? Explain.
I dont believe that Americans will agree with what the women was saying about how no people or
culture is better than another and nobody lives a better life than other. Americans would probably
disagree with that because we have a growing economy with technology.
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)
Deforestation
Deforestation has is that the land has
They had was to protect the trees by the
cleared out. And also the Co2 level are

government's environmental policies.

lowering since the trees gave it off.

And monitoring the people that violate

Mining/Drilling

Crime

An impact of mining and drilling is an oil

the policy.
A solution is to not use that pipeline

spill. Which leads to the thick black oil

anymore. And also could drill oil in

that can hit the water and kill fish.

another spot and not in the same spot all

If they are illegally logging, it leads one

the time.
One solution is having trucks going

solution is having trucks going to less co2

around the forest and watch under

and leaving animals homeless. And also

surveillance for those who illegally

taking an advantage of things by doing

logging. And get people to stop illegally

something that doesnt belong to

doing things.

you

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?
The rainforest was in the way challenging Brazil's efforts to prepare for the 2014 world cup. Since it is
always raining during the intense raining season that it is taking them longer to build the stadium.
15. How did the regions emphasis on environmental protection influence the stadium project?
Everyone is worried about the environment so they save the water, use the sunlight and using the
wind. Once they succeed in making the stadium it can be used on other events.