ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCE

Environmental Issue:
TREES TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
(DEFORESTATION)

Submitted by: Nudalo, Maica

 Human beings have always cut down trees. Wood has historically been the most
dominant form of heating fuel, as well as one of the most often used building materials
for houses and ships. 25% of the world's lumber harvest now goes towards paper
production.

No one can deny the basic human need for housing. And no one can deny that any
advanced culture requires a great deal of paper to transact its daily business. However,
one must also recognize the importance of forests in and of themselves.

Forests are important for several reasons.

First of all, many would espouse the opinion that they should be preserved for future
generations to enjoy. Certainly, the family camping trip is a true hallmark of American
culture.

Second of all, they provide habitat for many important species. Old growth forest in
the north western United States is the only suitable habitat for the Northern Spotted
Owl, for example. Tropical forests compose only 7% of the earth's land surface, but are
home to more than half of the species on earth

Thirdly, forests perform important ecological functions. As aggregates of plant

matter, forests do a great deal of oxygen production and help prevent excessive global
warming. Additionally, forests tend to help replenish nutrients in land and thus prevent
desertification.

Lastly, and perhaps most obviously, we need to have forests since we rely on them
as a source of timber! If we exhaust our supply of forests, we'll no longer be able to
continue using them as the source of our building materials, heating fuel, and paper.

Nevertheless, deforestation is a very big and important environmental problem which

is yet to be effectively addressed. According to Norman Myers, who published a book
on the subject in 1979, the main causes of deforestation are excessive logging, slash
and burn agriculture, cattle raising and harvesting for fuel.

Logging

Logging is the main threat to old growth forests found in the northwestern United States.
Much of this forest land is managed by the United States Forest Service with the
intention that they be used "in the combination that will best meet the needs of the
American people" and "not necessarily the combination of uses that will give the
greatest dollar return."
The Forest Service is obviously heavily influenced by the timber industry, as it actually
subsidizes timber companies to the extent of $500 million per year in taxpayers' money.
This makes paper and wood cheaper than they should be, and makes it more difficult
for the recycled paper industry to succeed. The forest service apparently does this in
order to create jobs within the timber industry. 

Fuel Wood

Many less advanced nations still depend on wood as a primary source of fuel and
energy. This page lists many of the energy sources in use today around the world and
rates them by the amount of pollution they produce, how commonly they're used, and
the amount of time it takes for them to replenish themselves. It lists wood fuel as the
most polluting, and as one of those which takes the most time to replenish itself.

To the less careful, it may appear that this problem could be easily solved by exporting
fossil fuel technology to the nations which currently depend on wood fuel. This is not a
good solution, however, as the world's fossil fuel resources are already so heavily taxed
as to warrant large scale wars between nations over them. (i.e. The Gulf War in the
early 1990's.)

Research is currently being done into more effective use of renewable energy
resources, so that hopefully they could be used to alleviate the use of wood as fuel.

While the problem of deforestation is now recognized as a very serious and important
one, it is yet to be effectively addressed by governmental and international
organizations. The current goal of agencies attempting to curb deforestation is to ensure
that as much as possible of the world's timber usage comes from sources which
practice sustainable forestry. Lumber certification programs are an important part of the
plan to achieve this goal.

It is important to recognize, however, that lumber certification programs only address

the portion of the deforestation problem which is to blame on harvesting of timber for the
sake of using that timber. As mentioned earlier, slash and burn agriculture,
deforestation for the sake of producing pasture for cattle raising, and government
subsidies for excessive logging for the purpose of producing jobs (rather than lumber)
are also major causes of deforestation.

In order to truly confront the problem of deforestation, all these causes must be
addressed individually. Modern farming technology must be given to nations which
depend on slash and burn agriculture. The cattle industry may be encouraged to raise
its cattle in a manner that does not involve destruction of rainforest through government
subsidies. And organizations may choose to offer rewards for timber workers who
decide to switch to other jobs, in order to reduce the need for subsidies to the logging
industry.

The problem of deforestation can only be solved if it is addressed on all fronts.

IMMEDIATE ACTION:

Trees are absolutely vital to life here on Earth, but they are also being destroyed at

an alarming rate.  So many of the choices we make throughout the day when we're

shopping, eating, or even driving, are powered by deforestation.  Trees are cut and

burned down for a number of reasons. Forests are logged to supply timber for wood and

paper products, and to clear land for crops, cattle, and housing. Other causes of

deforestation include mining and oil exploitation, urbanization, acid rain and wildfires.

And according to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the 33

million acres of forestland that are lost annually around the globe are responsible for

20% of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.  Deforestation also contributes to air

and water pollution, a loss of biodiversity, erosion, and climatic disruption.

So what can you do about deforestation?

One easy way to combat deforestation is to plant a tree. But you can take it one

step further by making sure the choices you make at home, at the store, at work, and on

the menu don’t contribute to the problem. Here’s what you can do about deforestation.

1. Plant a tree.

2. Go paperless.

3. Recycle and buy recycled products.

4. Eat vegetarian meals as often as possible.

5. Buy from companies that have a committed to reducing deforestation through an

environmentally friendly purchasing policy.

6. Make sure that the forest-derived products you buy are made from 100 percent

post-consumer content materials.

7. Ask questions about how the products you buy impact the forest.

8. Educate your friends, family and community about how our everyday actions can

impact forests thousands of miles away.

SYNTHESIS:

Thus, deforestation is an important issue to be discussed. It has adverse effects on

each living beings' life. Deforestation has become a huge concern in today's life as
there has been a rise in the decline of forests. Trees are cut down in order to
manufacture paper products as well as for livestock farming and so on.

In order to feed the ever increasing population of the Earth, trees and forests are
converted to farm lands. This has become a threat to the world and it has been seen
that rates of decline in the forests are increasing at a rapid rate. This has led the planet
to warm up and leading to high temperatures. This cycle would continue for the
following years to come unless necessary steps are taken to prevent deforestation.
Deforestation has caused fewer trees to grow. It has also gone a long way in eliminating
valuable ecosystems in the planet.

If major steps towards a forestation are not taken, then even the great adaptability of
human beings may not be enough to cope up with the harsh climate of the future.
Deforestation does have solutions. It's just that the people must step forward. The safe
keeping of our precious planet lies with each and every member of its human
population. We are the ones accountable for our actions even though it is ourselves we
are accountable too.