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Hannah Sheerin

Mrs. Klimas

English 10 Pre-AP

15 January 2018

Environmental Issues: Deforestation

Robbins, Jim. “Deforestation and Drought.” The New York Times, 9 Oct. 2015,

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/deforestation-and-drought.html.

Accessed 15 Jan. 2018.

Robbins’ article examines the effects deforestation has on climate, specifically

precipitation. He highlights the findings that trees release, on average, 1,000 liters of water vapor

each day, which consequently affects the amount of rainfall in an area. The water vapor is held in

clouds that travel to different parts of the world. As a result, it is possible that water vapor from

the trees in the Amazon bring rain to Texas, New Mexico, or even California. If these trees are

continually cut down, less water vapor is released into the air, which could cause draughts in

various areas. The Amazon rainforest has lost about 2,000 square miles of its impactful trees in

one year, most of the land being cut down for soybean plantations and cattle purposes. These

forests are important due to their ability to absorb and hold carbon dioxide, prevent floods,

regulate climate, and clean water. Brazil is currently struggling with a drought in which major

cities such as São Paulo, which has a population of about 20 million, have dry reservoirs and

need to ration their water supply. Scientists believe that this is directly related to the

deforestation happening in Brazil. Deforestation is also believed to be one of the direct causes to

climate change. The deterioration of forests results in a buildup of carbon dioxide which traps

heat in the atmosphere, causing the warming of the earth. Without forests, there would be a shift
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to the use of grasslands, which absorb less solar energy than forests. However, this shift could

result in a major change in weather patterns around the world.

Due to the world’s dependence on forests, scientists strongly suggest the prevention of

deforestation. They believe it should be stopped immediately in order to avert global climate

changes. Additionally, a way to bring back the forests is to plant, on a large scale, new forests.

These new forests would hopefully make up for the loss in the Amazon and support the climate

again. Scientists worry that if people don’t do something soon, the pace of deforestation will

outrun humankind and we will not be able to make a difference by the time deforestation

destroys the earth. Tree planting assists in rerouting groundwater as well as absorbing energy.

There are some negative side effects to planting new forests; however, they are not as concerning

as deforestation, and are therefore not a reason to stop these efforts. Already, people, such as

Bishop Fredrick Shoo in Tanzania who is a bishop for the Evangelical Lutheran Church, have

started planting vast forests in order to help with this cause. Shoo estimates that, with 100,000 of

his parishioners, he has planted 3.7 million trees near Mount Kilimanjaro. He began planting

trees about 15 years ago in order to cool the dry, hot winds in the area that are melting the

glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro. Some small ways that people can reduce deforestation is to

recycle paper products and plant trees where they see bare land. Every little bit helps, and every

person is able to make a difference in the problem of deforestation.

Schwartz, Jill. “Alternatives to Wood.” World Wildlife Fund, 13 Jan. 2015,

https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/alternatives-to-wood. Accessed 15 Jan. 2018.

Vidal, John. “We are destroying rainforests so quickly they may be gone in 100 years.” The

Guardian, 23 Jan. 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-

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professionals-network/2017/jan/23/destroying-rainforests-quickly-gone-100-years-

deforestation. Accessed 16 Jan 2018.

Zarin, Daniel J. “Where the trees are disappearing.” CNN, 26 Nov. 2013,

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/26/opinion/zarin-deforestation/index.html. Accessed 15

Jan. 2018.

Zarin’s article emphasizes the new technology being used to analyze deforestation and

how it will help change the dangerously high rates. Deforestation is a major problem because it

constitutes more than ten percent of carbon emissions. Carbon emissions are what cause global

warming, and although the burning of fossil fuels accounts for more carbon emissions,

deforestation still has a great impact on our world. For every hectare of native tropical forests cut

down, about 150 tons of carbon is released into the air, and every year, millions of hectares are

demolished. Credit for the new technology that helps people understand the true effect of

deforestation belongs to Matthew Hansen, a University of Maryland professor, and his team.

They used advanced techniques on the computer and Google Earth to develop a way to see what

forests around the world are in trouble, not just the Amazon, as it was the only forest to be seen

through this type of technology for about 25 years. This technology is open to everyone and

allows people to visually comprehend how deforestation is changing the world and why it needs

to be stopped. Zarin references in his article that there is blame for deforestation and it belongs

on the government. He believes that it is the government’s responsibility to make progress in this

issue. Zarin also highlights some alternate causes of deforestation, such as the global demand for

agricultural products. Some of these products that are in high demand are palm oil, paper, beef,

and soya. As more people around the world demand these products, workers in Latin American
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countries are clearing more forest land to make space for plantations, which in turn creates more

and more deforestation.

Zarin also focuses on programs that work to reduce deforestation rates. One of them

mentioned was the World Wildlife Fund’s pledge that involves reaching net deforestation rates

of zero by the year 2020. Over 60 different governments have signed on to this pledge in order to

support the fight against deforestation. The pledge entails deforestation prevention while also

preventing unnatural forests from replacing pristine, native forests. The board of the Consumer

Goods Forum made a similar pledge for zero-deforestation. After the sharp increase in Brazil

from 4, 751 square kilometers of deforestation to 5, 843 in a year, Brazilian President Dilma

Rousseff and Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira passed a national climate change policy

that included the nation’s target of 3, 900 square kilometers of deforested land by 2020. This rate

would be 80% lower than the nation’s average loss from 1996 to 2005. Reducing deforestation is

a struggle for developing countries because they use accounting practices that are irregular, and

they do not have a lot of knowledge about their forests and what is happening in them. This

problem was justified when Brazil reduced their deforestation rates, but at the same time, other

developing countries such as Zambia, Angola, Bolivia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Paraguay

increased their numbers. This may be related to the fact that most developing countries have an

economy that depends on agriculture. One way that people can help fight deforestation is to join

or support a pledge. If everyone comes together against this issue, there is more hope for it to be

finally solved.