The sad fact, which the world likes to forget (including me from time to time!), is that the natural world is dying around us. There are some horrifying statistics out there from reputable people that even suggest that human beings as we know them may not be around in less than 100 years and that children being born now may be the generation that has to experience the almost complete loss of our eco-systems and thousands of extinctions, perhaps even our own? Currently it's thought that we are in the middle of the 6th mass extinction since life appeared on this planet and that species are going extinct 1000 times faster than is normal with up to 28,000 species expected to become extinct in the next quarter of the century just because of deforestation alone. 50% may have gone already around the world because of humanity and that's just since 1970!!!!!

Where do we begin?

The rainforests are our life support system. They give us life, medicine, oxygen (20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon forest alone) and they convert and absorb carbon dioxide (which in part causes global warming) and they are all disappearing at a scary rate. It is estimated that within 100 years at the current rate there will be no rainforests left! 4500 acres of forests are cleared every hour, that's one and a half acres of forest cut down or burned every second for various reasons like farming and illegal logging to name but a few but the common denominator is always greed and shortsightedness. Even 25% of our cancer fighting drugs are sourced from the amazon alone.

Half of the world’s tropical forests have already been cleared and the total world forest loss is still around 7.3 million hectares every single year. It's thought that the loss of biodiversity through deforestation alone will cost the global economy up to $4.5trn (£2.8trn) each year –  that's $650 for every person on the planet!!!

Do you want to do something about this? Do you want to protect your home, your planet, not only for yourself but for the children of this world who will inherit the mess we are all leaving behind?

Please give generously to an organisation that prides itself on dealing with deforestation directly, working closely with its partners around the world to buy and protect areas at risk forever. Please check out their website for information on their wonderful projects at :

www.worldlandtrust.org

There are also some great videos on Youtube including ones from their patron; Sir David Attenborough. The wonderful Bill Oddie also works closely with the World Land Trust and challenged me to do something soon. (He's in the picture with his arm around my missus!!! ;) 

This is perhaps more important than anything else right now if we as a species ourselves are to survive.

Please PLEASE help raise as much as we can.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.