Animals and plants live together in a symbiotic state

Since the beginning of the twentieth century the earth's entire environment has been substantially impacted by humankind's explosive activity. In the space of just twenty to thirty years, Japan has become a place where one has to buy water to drink. The basic things that humans normally need to live, such as water, air, and food, are endangered. In order to live, every day we take in food with a calorific value of 2000 kcal (1 eu), which plants have originally derived from solar energy by means of photosynthesis. The meat and fish that we eat from day to day are organisms originally reared through the eating of plants. The plants that color hills and fields absorb the sun's rays, water, and carbon dioxide, and produce oxygen and carbohydrates. Animals help plants, for example by carrying seeds produced by plants far away and, as in the case of insects, by pollinating flower pistils. Animals and plants live together and help each other.

The 400 liters of oxygen that convert 2000 kcal = 1 eu of food into energy What happens within the body to the 1 eu of energy that it takes in as food? We absorb oxygen, break down the food we take in into water and carbohydrates, and use the energy created during that process as energy for activities such as thinking and walking. It is calculated that the amount of oxygen necessary to burn one eu of food within the body is 400 liters.

Oxygen for one person is produced by two square meters of forest land What quantity of plants produces the 400 liters of oxygen necessary for one person to live? It is calculated that approximately two square meters of forested land is needed to produce this oxygen. The Amazon tropical forests are said to supply 25% of the earth's oxygen. Forests, particularly tropical rain forests, are continuing to decline globally, 15 million hectares of forest being destroyed every year. This means that an area around 40% of the size of Japan is being destroyed annually. A food crisis and shortage of oxygen on a global scale would be a very serious matter.

It would be a very serious matter if we were to enter an age in which oxygen had to be bought at the supermarket. Plants and animals live together in the great cyclical system that is the earth. Long ago, people had a tradition of living together with nature. Today, that needs to be reconsidered.