Deforestation - The Amazon Rainforest

I spent the last week in Buenos Aires, Argentina and came back with the realization that I may never get a chance to see some of the most beautiful historic landsites in South America. I've read a lot about Peru's Machu Picchu and Brazil's Amazon ranforest and I always planned to make a trip to visit these two sites, but with work and a lack of vacation time, my dream may never be realized for two reasons. One, I heard that Machu Picchu may close down because of all the tourists that are slowly destroying its landscape. And two, deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is rampant, which is disconcerting for a variety of reasons. The rainforest is one of the top free sources that captures carbon emissions throughout the world, and destroying it would mean that there would be an exponential increase in carbon emissions worldwide. Further, the act of deforestation emits carbon into the atmosphere, so in essence destroying the rainforest by deforestation is like winding a clock backwards.
According to the Huffington Post, new satellite dishes will keep track of the deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest so environmental agents and government officials will have a better way to deal with this type of destruction.

http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html