I came across this fascinating fact today. The quote's obviously a couple of weeks old, but the message is just as relevant. It's a frightening statistic. Step up for nature and help us to fight the appalling destruction of our rainforests.
With the Premier League kicking off the RSPB is asking you to think about the threats facing rainforests and calling for support to help save and protect them and all their wonderful wildlife. If all the football pitches in the English Football League were to disappear at the same rate of loss that rainforests are currently facing, they would be gone just six minutes into the first half — barely long enough for the first Premier League goal of the season to be scored.
Jonathan Barnard, the RSPB's Head of Tropical Forests, said: "Every four seconds an area of rainforest the size of a football pitch is lost — cut down with chainsaws, primarily for commercial interests. It may sound like an odd comparison, but with the Premier League starting today it's an easy one to make. Rainforests are the lungs of the world and saving them is a key factor in the fight against climate change. If they were rainforests, every one of the Premier League pitches would be lost in 80 seconds, the Championship would disappear just over one and a half minutes later, and the remaining 48 pitches in the Football League would be gone in the following four minutes. They're quite staggering statistics."
Deforestation in Sumatra by Clare Kendall (RSPB Images)
Absolutely staggering and for What? Palm oil and other such non essentials, , it is despicable