Refuge
The rainforest is a refuge for a variety of plants, birds, reptiles and insects, as well as many species of mammals, such as bats, monkeys, rodents, and apes. The variety of plants in the rainforest is fantastic. A typical four square mile patch contains 1,500 kinds of flowering plants and 750 tree species. Foods such as pineapple, banana, grapefruit, avocado, and coconut all come from rainforests. So do many flavorings, such as chocolate, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, ginger, and paprika.
The variety of animal life in the rainforest is equally amazing. One tree in the Amazon can be home to 200 different types of insects. Over 500 different species of birds are found in a small preserve in Costa Rica. That is nearly the number of bird species found in the entire United States.
Extinction
The disappearance of rainforests would bring about the extinction of many plants, animals, and insects that can live nowhere else. The vast genetic variety found in these living things would be lost; the richness of our world would be greatly reduced. In addition, the forest is a main producer of the most important essential – oxygen. The forest guarantees that animals, as well as humans, have a place to survive.
Synapse might be looked upon as a “rainforest to the mind.” If, as research suggests, the growing brain is physically shaped by experience (Diamond, 1988), then the human mind is being ignored and neglected by many educational institutions from pre-kindergarten to college. Today’s children, bombarded by a fast-paced media culture, are developing different and less powerful “habits of mind” than did children of previous decades (Healy, 1990).
Statistics Don’t Lie
The brain is being tranquilized by all pervasive electronics, television, by materialism, and by a belief in the need for instant gratification. The proportion of readers in the United States is continuing to become smaller, with a steady and significant decline in the number of book readers under 21. Cullman (1987) reports on one large group of typical fifth graders queried about the average amount of time they spend reading outside of school: 50% read four minutes a day; 30% read two minutes a day; 10% read nothing. American society is becoming increasingly alliterate – full of individuals who know how to read, but who choose not to read.
Preserving the Mind
Synapse is a rich environment for the preservation of the human mind. It is a place where children are encouraged to think crucially and creatively to stretch the boundaries of their knowledge and imagination. It is a place where passion for learning is strengthened, where a standard for excellence is encouraged, where curiosity is fostered, where divergent thoughts are fed, and where perseverance is modeled. Much like the movement to save the rainforests, we need to protect and save the human mind. It is important that we do, our species depends upon it.
And please, if you enjoyed this article, share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and even Pinterest. There are sharing buttons below.
Or ‘like’ my Facebook page for more valuable information about emotional intelligence. I would so appreciate it!
Thank you.
Leave a Reply