North And South America Similarities

Countries around the world always share similarities with each other, and the similarities seem to be bigger when the countries are close geographically. Countries can enjoy great things that connect them to each other, which is great, yet they can, also, suffer from similar issues. This is the case that can be seen in the countries in North America, Central America, and South America. It is great to be able to see the similarities that group of countries, which are geographically close, share. In this case, one can see what connects the countries in the Americas in terms of environmental issues, agriculture, and in culture. In the Americas, countries have similar environmental issues that they have to face. One of the environmental issues …show more content…
Then, 57% of the population in rural areas of Guatemala has a lack of a clean water source (Cook, 2016). Deforestation is also among the big environmental issues that the countries in the Americas are facing. Belize has a big problem with deforestation due to that it almost has twice the rate of deforestation in Central America (MacDonald, 2016). In Cuba throughout the years the amount of forest covered land has gone down drastically, from being 90% in 1812 to just being 18% in 1975 (Moorman, 2016). Guatemala has, also, made a drastic cut down of 50% of their forest since the year 1890 (Cook, 2016). In Canada, the percentage of their forest is decreasing at a rapid 2% every …show more content…
Deforestation is also being an environmental issue in Ecuador, and Costa Rica which only has 25% of its original forest standing (Kasten, 2016; Wilk, 2016). Deforestation is not just a problem because it is cutting down the trees, but because wildlife is being lost therefore decreasing the biodiversity in the ecosystems. The loss of wildlife is a similarity that the countries in the Americas are sharing such as Jamaica, Cuba, Canada, and Costa Rica just to mention a few (Kasten, 2016; Moorman, 2016; Nickel, 2016; Whetzel, 2016). The loss of wildlife and forest can also be tied back to the increase of tourism in the Americas. Countries find themselves clearing land for tourism, due to that tourism can be a big part of their economy. Jamaica, Cuba, and Costa Rica are countries where tourism is taking an effect on the environment (Kasten, 2016; Moorman, 2016; Nickel, 2016). Another major issue that is common among the countries in the Americas is their reliance on fossil fuels for energy, which is bad for the environment. The reliance on fossil fuels is also bad because it decreases the amount of resources that are nonrenewable .The countries are slowly moving towards using renewable resources, but not