Which Came First — the Rain or Rainforests?

Without the forest pumping so much water into the air, rainforests wouldn't be as rainy. And without so much rain, the forest couldn't pump so much water into the air.

CREDITS
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Writing and Editing Team: Alex Reich, Henry Reich, Peter Reich & Emily Elert
Illustration and Animation: Ever Salazar
Music by Nathaniel Schroeder

Thanks to Seth Riedel for pronunciation advice!

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OTHER CREDITS
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Land Surface Temperature - Image by: Reto Stockli, NASA's Earth Observatory Team

Deforestation - Image by: The Earth Observatory, NASA

Amazon Droughts and Forest Fires - Image by: The Earth Observatory, NASA

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REFERENCES
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[samt]

"When in draught, plant a tree" 👍🏼

[GeminiLeague]

Lol at all the people who think this video is actually asking if all rain in general came before or after trees. It's specifically talking about the rain needed to fuel the growth of rain forests. 

[OptiGE]

This is so awesome! This is how real lessons should look! Quick, snappy, informative and well illustrated. If you miss something becouse of the high phase, you can watch it all over again in under 3 mins. This is the future of education!

[kategaming]

Short version: The forest came first.

THE TREES MADE THE RAIN 🌧

[CuteWallflowergirl]

I remember watching this when i was younger and to see how bad it's gotten since this was out makes me sad.

[Sylphiel]

My country(Philippines) had 70% forest 80 years ago but today, there are only 21% left.

[mauricobebelo]

Here in Brazil, in cities next to Amazon Forrest it rains everyday. There are some people who say: "Will you go to the bank today?" "Yeah, but only after the rain!". There is here too what scientists call Fliers Rivers, it means, the clouds the forrest make travel to the southeastern and it rains there... cool!

[laurens]

So people, do not buy tropical hardwood, even if it has a so called FSC certification. By buying tropical hardwood, you make this planet a drier place. Even important foodproducing farmlands beyond rainforest receive rain generated from tropical hardwood trees in rainforests.

[soniczdawun]

I have to say, I awoke feeling uninspired today, but the man behind minuteearth and minutephysics never fails to make me feel enthusiastic about my scientific education. Well done, sir!

[MinuteEarth]

Cool! Do you know which news station or how we might see the frontpage with the video?

[NatalyG]

In this video, I learned the same amount in 3 minutes as I would've learned in 4 school lessons. :D

[amrabdulrab]

Does this mean if dry countries begin to plant more trees that it will rain there more often ?

[TubersAndPotatoes]

On the island of Borneo, they're chopping up so much rainforest trees and replacing them with Palm Oil Trees (which retains a lot of water, and doesn't give out much water vapor). If you'd want to see changed rain patterns in rainforest areas, Borneo is a good example too, drought is pretty common there too.

[LavenderJack]

You guys made my day by way of this video. As usual, your information is on point, informative, presented in an entertaining way, and accompanied by an undeniably relaxing soundtrack/animation combo. Once again, many thanks for your efforts. You folks are awesome. The great work? Keep it up. Hawksmoor...From The Bleed.

[MarkShaneHansen]

The answer to all "Which came first" questions:
It developed slowly and side-by-side until it became the way we know it today.

[ZipperOfficial]

I never actually knew trees had this much influence over whether it rains or not.
Cool!

[romantheflash]

Never thought about rain-forests this way...I just accepted it, guess I should ask more questions to learn more (Excellent video explaining it as well Henry, thanks :) )

[GriffWild]

Bravo! Excellent edu-tainment! Liked, favorited, and subscribed!

[ameyonadoray]

Amazing!! You really know how to make the ideas clearer

[DocWolph]

Need to play this on TV, Radio, and wherever else for Arbor day.