Imagine living in one place your whole life. Not because you want to, but because you need to. Because your family has lived there for generations and they have nowhere else to go. But you make the best of it, you raise your family and keep them fed, sheltered and protected. Then you wake up one morning and your homes are destroyed. Everything you’ve ever known is gone. Everything you’ve built and cared for, gone. And for what purpose? Simply to provide convenience to someone on the other side of the world.
Deforestation is a huge problem that occurs all over the world, with a myriad of negative consequences. Deforestation causes major issues such as wildlife extinction, soil erosion, and the emission of greenhouse gasses (Fearnside, 2005). Nobody can say that the loss of unique animal life is a good thing. The loss of biodiversity is a tremendous tragedy that simply does not have to occur. One has to ask themselves if it is really okay to destroy a species home, simply to provide lumber or farming land. There have been cases in the US where the government will try to remove people from their homes because they want to build something there such as a road. Normally this is responded to with a hostile reaction. Nobody wants to give up their home, the place that they set roots, simply because it would be convenient to another party. So why is it okay for loggers and farmers to destroy animal’s homes?
But if thinking about animals isn’t enough for some, then we can take a look at the impact on humans and the planet as a whole. “The Amazon is…an important
natural sink for ozone and plays an important role in global tropospheric chemistry” (Shulka, Nobre, Sellers, 1990). The term natural sink refers to the trees ability to soak up a large amount of carbon dioxide, leaving more breathable air for humans and less pollution as a whole.
There a number of things that everyone could be doing differently to help slow down deforestation. A big factor is going paperless. A lot of services that we get in the mail have the option to be received online which is not only more convenient, but more environmentally conscious. Of course there is also the option to start recycling or to recycle more. And an obvious one might be to use firewood sparingly. Most homes that still have fireplaces likely have them as decoration, but there are fireplaces that produce “fake” fires from “fake” logs. It gives the real look of a wood burning fire without all the negative consequences. Lastly, everyone can plant a tree once in a while. If everyone in the US planted at least one tree a year, that would be a huge and phenomenal step in reducing greenhouse gasses and increasing oxygen.
Fearnside, P.M. 2005. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: History, rates and consequences.
Conservation Biology 19(3): 680-688.
Shukla, J., C. Nobre, and P. Sellers. 1990. Amazon
deforestation and climate change. Science 247: 1322-25
Ronca, D. (2008, June 10). How Deforestation Works. Retrieved from https://science.howstuffworks.com/
environmental/green-science/deforestation1.htm