Most things are fairly simple with regards to humans living on this planet. We evolved here and the various systems of the planet seem to work toward our favor. Or, our bodies seem to fit into the natural ecosystems quite nicely... because we evolved here. We are a part of this 'living' planet. We are not apart from but are a part of...
We want to believe that we are superior to the very natural systems that created us. As our knowledge about these systems grows, we feel that we can manipulate nature to our advantage, that we can control the world that brought us into existence.
In our daily life, one of the things we do the most is to breathe (besides blinking). Without breathing our bodies couldn’t work and we would drop dead.
When humans breath in oxygen, our body uses it and breaths out carbon dioxide. It doesn’t really make sense that we can breath endless amounts of oxygen if we fill the air with carbon dioxide. The reason we can do this is because the trees recycle our dirty air and makes clean oxygen for us. This is a perfect example of how different natural components work together.
When we cut down trees to make space for stuff like malls, farms etc., the air cleaning is going much slower than before. If we don’t stop or at least decrease deforestation today, our next generation might have less clear air to breath and there might be many diseases that form.
When humans breath in oxygen, our body uses it and breaths out carbon dioxide. It doesn’t really make sense that we can breath endless amounts of oxygen if we fill the air with carbon dioxide. The reason we can do this is because the trees recycle our dirty air and makes clean oxygen for us. This is a perfect example of how different natural components work together.
When we cut down trees to make space for stuff like malls, farms etc., the air cleaning is going much slower than before. If we don’t stop or at least decrease deforestation today, our next generation might have less clear air to breath and there might be many diseases that form.
Here is a link to a video that hopefully gives a much needed perspective to where we are as humanity. This short video should give each of us something valuable to think about. We need to think about and understand the destruction we are bringing to ourselves, and to our children... grand-children...
The world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of deforestation.
Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money... The biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops or grazing livestock. Often many small farmers will each clear a few acres to feed their families by cutting down trees and burning them in a process known as “slash and burn” agriculture.
Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also cut countless trees each year. Loggers, some of them acting illegally, also build roads to access more and more remote forests—which leads to further deforestation. Forests are also cut as a result of growing urban sprawl.
Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.
Deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.
Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperatures swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.
Trees also play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere—and increased speed and severity of global warming.
The quickest solution to deforestation would be to simply stop cutting down trees... financial realities make this unlikely to occur.
Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money... The biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops or grazing livestock. Often many small farmers will each clear a few acres to feed their families by cutting down trees and burning them in a process known as “slash and burn” agriculture.
Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also cut countless trees each year. Loggers, some of them acting illegally, also build roads to access more and more remote forests—which leads to further deforestation. Forests are also cut as a result of growing urban sprawl.
Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.
Deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.
Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperatures swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.
Trees also play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere—and increased speed and severity of global warming.
The quickest solution to deforestation would be to simply stop cutting down trees... financial realities make this unlikely to occur.
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