The importance of the Amazon rainforest in global environmental issues is largely due to its immense size. Terrestrial plants absorb 25% of the atmospheric carbon dioxide during p Herland, 1984, and two works of art hotosynthesis. Carbon dioxide emissions are a by-product of natural processes and human interventions such as burning fossil fuels. Through a process known as sequestering the plants store carbon in their wood and soil. The massive scale of the Amazon and its sequestering capabilities leads to it being referred to as a carbon sink: able to slow the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and therefore its contribution to global warming. It can only be classified as this if it absorbs more carbon dioxide than it releases. By 2015 the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide was 400 parts per million, this was an increase from the 290 parts per million level recorded at the turn of the century. (Keenan, Trevor, Colin Prentice, Josep Canadell, Christopher Williams, Han Wang, Michael Raupach and James Collatz 2016.) The deforestation of the Amazon rainforest not only decreases the quantity of carbon able to be stored, it also causes a dramatic increase in the levels of carbon being released into the atmosphere by the dead trees. According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment, Main Report (2010), worldwide deforestation releases almost one billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere annually. Although measures are beginning to be implemented to reduce the levels of carbon released into the atmosphere, more needs to be done to prevent levels rising “to 600 parts per million-a level the world could reach as early as 2050[m1]” (Daniel Grossman 2016, 635). Due to the sheer size of the Amazon rainforest, alterations to its local environment can be felt in other parts of the world. David Werth and Roni Avissar (2002) point out that deforestation in the Amazon has a measurable effect. It can cause a reduction in levels of precipitation a Herland, 1984, and two works of art nd evapotranspiration as well as the formation of clouds. This impact could be felt in several areas around the world, that displayed an increase in the length of their dry seasons. Restoration of the tropical rainforest areas of extensive deforestation could be greatly inhibited due to this increase in temperature and dryness. (Shukra, Nobre and Sellers 1990, 1322-1325). though the numbers are not as high as the ones recorded in the previous decade. Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic (human-caused) source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Brazil and Indonesia, which had the highest net loss of forest in t Herland, 1984, and two works of art he 1990s, have significantly reduced their rate of loss, according plays a crucial role in keeping carbon out of our atmosphere, as it naturally absorbs about 28% of the atmospheric carbon emitted by the burning of fossil fuels elsewhere According to Michael Daley, associate professor of environmental science at Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts, the No. 1 problem caused by deforestation is the impact on the global carbon cycle. Gas molecules that absorb thermal infrared radiation are called greenhouse gases. If greenhouse gases are in large enough quantity, they can force climate change, according to Daley. While oxygen (O2) is the second most abundant gas in our atmosphere, it does not absorb thermal infrared radiation, as greenhouse gases do. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most prevalent greenhouse gas. In 2012 Herland, 1984, and two works of art , CO2 accounted for about 82 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas, according to the Envi>