Some facts about the fabulous rainforests:

• Fifty percent of the Earth's species of plants and animals live there, but the forests themselves cover only two percent of the planet's surface.

• There are rainforests, either temperate or tropical, on all the continents except Antarctica.

• Rainforests regulate temperature and weather patterns, and more than 20 percent of the world's oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest.

• Just a four square mile area of forest has up to 1,500 flowering plants, 750 different kinds of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 different kinds of butterflies.

• The rainforest contains over 2,000 plants that have been identified as having cancer fighting properties and 70 percent of the plants that the U.S. National Cancer Institute says are useful in treating cancer are found only in the rainforest. Still, less the one percent of species in the tropical rainforests have been analyzed for their medicinal properties.

But sadly, every second, an area of rainforest the size of a football field is lost. That means that by the time Girlawhirl goes to bed tonight, about 86,400 football fields of forest will be destroyed. More than 56,000 square miles of rainforest will be lost by her next birthday.

Saving the rainforests, acre by acre is certainly a daunting task, but Girlawhirl discovered that there are several organizations committed to that and more. The Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre® program is dedicated to preserving the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. Savenature.org allows donors to choose the rainforests from which they would like to adopt acres, and there's even an alternative Adopt a Reef program for endangered coral reefs. Redwolf.org works in North America to preserve the woodlands where the red wolf, which is currently endangered, lives.

Girlawhirl, inspired more than ever by this year's Earth Day, chose a rainforest and vowed to try to save an acre every year.

Go Do It!

The Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre® program

Savenature.org has both land and coral reef programs

Redwolf.org has an Adopt an Acre and Adopt a Trail program

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