Disasters of Deforestation

Disasters of Deforestation Around 18 million acres of forests and land is destroyed each year to make room for buildings and towns throughout the world. Massive land areas and hundreds of trees are being knocked down every day. Forests are disappearing. Effects of the removal of forest land are changing numerous lives. Plans for reducing deforestation are finally circulating through these communities. Conservationists are urging that the forest land should be used in a responsible way and that the logging companies do their part to help in this environmental issue.

The deforestation of this vulnerable land has been going on for decades and is only getting worse. Deforestation has abounding reasons of why it’s been happening. One example for the increased deforestation is that more forest land is needed in order to make more factories, farms, and towns. In the past 50 years, 90 percent of the United States indigenous forest has been repurposed. Another reason deforestation is happening is for the commercial items that industries can produce from the land. The logging industry creates paper, lumber for homes, and furniture.

Last year the United States produced 20,700,000 tons of paper. Approximately 55 to 110 million trees are cut down each year depending on the size and type of tree, according to the Sierra Club Organization. Forests are being destroyed for consumer goods. Oil is the top consumer item that is produced from tropical forests. The oil mostly comes from the Palm Tree. Deforestation due to consumer items, does not happen often in the United States, but mostly is a big issue in Indonesia and Malaysia.

These nations have very large tropical forests. Making better use of the available non-forested land, commercial items, and consumer goods can result in saving forests. Serious effects come along with deforestation. Loss of habitat injures countless wildlife native to forests all over the United States. National Geographic states that 70 percent of the world’s animals live in forests being destructed. The loss of forests can lead up to extinction of species.

Another effect that the loss of land creates is that the medicine found in the plants from forest is lost. The water cycle also is affected by the loss of vegetation. Trees take in the rain which produces water vapor into the air making it more fresh. The trees also lessen the pollution in the air so the loss of trees is reducing the clean air. The loss of trees no longer allows the rain to slowly soak into the earth but it quickly flows away from the area where it fell from and permanently dries up. An article from Junior Science explains how warming in certain areas is due to deforestation.

When trees are cut down the air temperature increases, which then increases the soil temperature. Decreasing life quality also results from deforestation. Poor health can be traced back to the soil erosion caused from deforestation. The soil may contain chemicals and unwanted waste where areas are planted for the food supply. Soil erosion can seep into areas where the water is collected for water supply.

The quality of life of animals, plants and humans is greatly affected by the increased deforestation of the land. Fixing the problems created by deforestation will save lives and keep the world healthier. The government can help save the forests by regulating how much land can taken each year, based on research. We need them to embrace the problem more just bringing up the idea could help save the forests. Funding organizations could help out even more with deforestation. Increased awareness of recycling could help reduce the need for more trees for paper.

This awareness could help with saving more of the palm palm trees in the tropical forests. Deforestation is a big problem across the world. Tearing down the forests for land, commercial, and consumer items lead to effects from deforestation that result to species being endangered or worse yet, extinct. The life quality of all living things in these areas is failing. Fixing the damage will be a big step. Changing politics, recycling, saving oil, and gas needs to begin, but slowly these actions will help.

Not many students would choose this topic to write about, but I truly think this is a major issue today. I feel like I need to recycle more, and help with even the little things that could save more trees, making the world a healthier place. One step at a time we can decrease the need for deforestation.