I was ten years old when I first visited the jungles of southern Venezuela on a diamond mining expedition organized by my uncle. I found three diamonds! It was during the cold war and many feared the prospect and devastation of nuclear war. During the expedition, I developed this idea that the canopy of rain forests could shield us somehow from the lethal effects of radioactive fallout. Of course, this is not correct but I continue to live with an intense affection for rain forests and am in awe of the abundance of life within them.