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DEFORESTATION (Solutions (Educate others: by educating your friends,…
DEFORESTATION
Definition
It is the destruction of trees, which can be cut or burnt, without the intention of establishing future growth.
Causes
Mining: the increase of mining on tropical forests is furthering damage due to the rising demand and high mineral prices.
Paper: America, China, Japan, and Canada make up more than of the world’s paper production—400 million tons a year. Approximately 640 million trees represent the paper that’s thrown away each year.
Overpopulation: due to overpopulation, more land is needed to establish housing and new roads. With more people, there is a large need for food and farmland to grow on and raise livestock—resulting in deforestation.
Logging: wood-based industries such as paper, matchsticks, and furniture, need a substantial quantity of wood, that is often obtained with illegal methods.
Agriculture expansion and livestock ranching: An increasing supply-demand for products such as palm oil and soybeans are driving producers to clear forests at an unnerving rate. Farmers often clear the land for cattle, too.
Climate change: tropical rainforests are extremely humid due to the water vapor released along with the oxygen. But when a forest is cut down, the humidity levels decrease and causes the remaining plants to dry out.
Effects
Increased greenhouse gas emissions: trees help to mitigate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, but they become carbon sources once they’re cut, burned, or otherwise removed.
Acidic oceans: the oceans are becoming more acidic with an increased supply of carbon dioxide from deforestation and burning fossil fuels.
Loss of species: Removing trees thins the forest canopy, which is meant to block sun rays during the day and holds in the heat at night. This damage leads to extreme temperature swings that are harmful to plants and animals. Many animals, insects, and plants lose their habitats and may become endangered and even go extinct.
Flooding and erosion: without trees to secure fertile soil, erosion often occurs and sweeps sacred land into nearby rivers. Erosion also causes contaminants in the soil to leach into the water supply which will greatly decrease the quality of our drinking water.
Life quality decrease: millions of people in the world depend on forests for hunting, small-scale agriculture, gathering, and medicine. So deforestation disrupts the lives of millions of people.
Solutions
Educate others: by educating your friends, family, and community of the facts, by cause and effect you’ll increase awareness and make an impact.
Renewable wood resources: we can plant trees as a source of wood or use wood from second-growth forests.
Eat less meat: agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation. This one’s hard for some people and may actually be dangerous but even having a meatless Monday or only eating meat for one meal a day will make an extreme impact on the environment
Reduce consumption: palm oil is in absolutely everything but a quick peek at the ingredients is a simple habit to get into. Soybeans are another deforestation hotspot but try finding ways to reduce consumption.
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Forestry certification: if buying products from virgin forest fiber, make sure it bears a seal from a credible forestry certification system.
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Slash and burn
It is a farm of shifting agriculture where the natural vegetation is cut down and burnt as a method of clearing the land for cultivation and then, when the plot becomes infertile, the farmers move to a new fresh plot and do the same again. This process is repeated over and over.