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164 points bikenaga | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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htamas ◴[] No.45399285[source]
The Amazon forest is unique in many ways but most importantly because unlike other forests, it CANNOT grow back. The reason for this is that it is a leftover from when the planet was covered in rainforests because it was a lot warmer and wetter in the Eocene epoch. The forest is sustained by the rain it creates from itself. Once the trees are gone, the water will be gone. [1] We also have reasons to think this self-sustaining climate is going to collapse soon [2]

So far the best way to protect it I have found is through the Rainforest Trust [3] which is a foundation that's trying to purchase and protect parts of the rainforests that companies would otherwise cut or burn down for agricultural use.

[1]https://youtu.be/hb3b-A6QAc8

[2]https://www.nasa.gov/earth-and-climate/human-activities-are-...

[3]https://www.rainforesttrust.org

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HappyPanacea ◴[] No.45399535[source]
How hard is it to plant it back?
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1. lokrian ◴[] No.45399624[source]
A lot harder than just not burning it down in the first place.
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2. saghm ◴[] No.45400193[source]
And even if it's somehow possible, it takes a lot longer too. Unless you're just moving the trees from somewhere else (which kinda defeats the whole point), you need to grow new ones, and trees take a pretty long time to get as large as the ones we're talking about.