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 A Tale of Deforestation

A Tale of Deforestation
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.33

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    acceptable, replenish, tremendous, commercial, production, worldwide, tropical, logging, survival, species, conservation, disappearance, latex, writing, fertilizer, destruction
     content words:    South America

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A Tale of Deforestation
By Jennifer Kenny 		  
1     In the tropical rain forest of South America, Miguel is studying a global issue. That issue is deforestation and its impact on the world. Does it seem unlikely that an event in a rain forest far away could have an effect anywhere else? It may seem unlikely, but it is true.
 
2     Do you know what deforestation means? It means the permanent destruction of forests and woodlands. Most of the deforestation in the world occurs in these tropical areas of Latin and South America, Asia, and Africa. There's an actual concern that tropical rain forests could disappear by 2050 unless they are protected.
 
3     Miguel has witnessed several things that he feels cause deforestation. He has seen farming in poor and overpopulated areas. This is basically subsistence agriculture for survival. The poor move around. They slash and burn the trees to remove them. They use the ash as fertilizer. This method also gets rid of the parasites. Soon after farming, they often need to move and repeat the process.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
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Extended Activities:

1.  Research one animal or plant that lives in the rain forest. Draw a picture of it and give a one page description of its life.

2.  Research one issue about deforestation. Offer two solutions to counteract it.


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