The Amazon Forest

The Amazon is often called the lungs of the earth and produces 20% of the world’s oxygen. For this reason, many people are trying to stop deforestation in the rainforest. Brazil, for example, is working hard to help the rainforest survive.

A few years ago, the Brazilian government put forward a plan called ARPA (Amazon Region Protected Areas). It had the support of many international agencies, including the World Bank, and the German Development Bank, KfW. The main aim was to build new areas of protected rainforest, maintain areas of the rainforest that hadn’t yet been destroyed, and stop deforestation. Deforestation contributes greatly to global warming because carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when trees get cut down and burned.

One of the first areas to be recognized as part of ARPA was the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park. It is 38,800 km² and is the same size as Switzerland, a small country in Central Europe. It’s the world’s largest protected tropical national park, and the second largest national park. It is home to certain species of jaguar, eagle, and lizard, which can only survive in the rainforest. Many of these species are under threat from climate change and deforestation.

In order to work in the park, conservationists need a reliable map. However, no map existed, and they didn’t have enough knowledge to make one on their own. They came up with the idea of involving local tribes to help them, combining modern and ancient methods to produce a map. The tribes learned to use global positioning system handsets (GPS), in conjunction with their local knowledge of the area, which included fishing and hunting grounds, and places of historical or mythical importance. Aerial photos were a 20useful aid in the process as well. This method of map-making is now the key to the future of rainforests, in Brazil and the rest of the world too.

Texas High School Opens Grocery Store That Accepts Good Deeds as Payment

    How many high schools can say they have a grocery store inside their walls? The student-run grocery store at Linda Tutt High School in rural Sanger, Texas, provides food and other necessities to students and their families while teaching essential job skills. And the store doesn’t accept cash, just good deeds. Instead of money, students shop using a point system.

    The store, which aims to address food insecurities for students and others in the community, is open Monday through Wednesday for students and staff within the school district. “A lot of our students come from low socioeconomic families,” principal Anthony Love told KTVT. “It’s a way for students to earn the ability to shop for their families. Through hard work you can earn points. You can earn points for doing chores around the building or helping to clean.”

    The pioneering project is run in partnership with First Refuge Ministries, Texas Health Resources, and Albertsons (a grocery store chain). But nearly all the responsibility falls on the students. They stock the shelves, keep track of inventory, address sales, and monitor registers when items are purchased. “I think the most exciting part of it is just teaching our kids job skills that they can carry with them as they graduate high school and move on into the world,” Love said to WAGA-TV. “Students are really the key piece to it.”

Adapted from https://www.southernliving.com/culture/school/linda-tutt-high-school-grocery-store

Instruction: Answer question based on the following text.

Matilda: an extra-ordinary bookworm! – Lesson Plan

Source: https://www.roalddahl.com/docs/MatildaLessonPlan201_1567179949.pdf