The deforestation topic has been a debate during the last years.

While there are some

people that strongly believe that deforestation is not completely damaging for the

environment because it gives people benefits such as economic development, space for

living, and the decreasing of carbon dioxide, some others argue that deforestation should be

banned as soon as possible. People who are against deforestation have some arguments

contrasting people who are in favor of it.

First of all, people who are in favor of deforestation argue that instead of causing

damage, it gives benefits to humanity; for example, the economic development of a country.

They argue that because of deforestation we will have more commercial farming to get the

food that is needed during the last years because of the increment of population. However,

that is not possible because deforestation does not provide fertile land to farmers and, instead,

farmers would have to cut more trees to maintain fresh land in order to raise food

successfully.

Also, people in favor of removing trees believe that another benefit we can get is the

necessary space for living. Because there are too many people in the world, it is too crowded.

So, according to them, we must look for additional territories to live in. On the contrary, this

is counterproductive because that would lead people to split from their traditional space, and

some of them have never had contact with people from the city. This is not only going to

destroy their way of life but also it exposes local people to infections and illnesses that they

have never suffered from. In addition, if deforestation is getting more usual, hundreds of

species of plants and animals would be lost. In fact, some of the most important medicines

are taken from medicinal plants, and if we lose them, we will lose not only the existence of

ones but also the ones that have not been discovered yet.

Lastly, according to people in favor of deforestation, deforestation actually helps the

environment instead of damaging it. Even though environmental experts will disagree, they
believe that because the money saved by the government to preserve trees produces large

amounts of carbon dioxide that actually damage the environment. However, this cannot be

possible because, of course, deforestation is devastating to the environment. There is not any

believable proof that deforestation is beneficial to the environment. Also, the decrease of

carbon dioxide is thanks to the avoidance of deforestation instead of increasing it.

In conclusion, while some people believe that deforestation is good for the environment

and has many benefits to humanity instead of just harming the environment, some others

strongly support the idea of banning deforestation completely because the benefits stated by

the ones who are in favor are not accurate enough.

Question 2

One of the news stories that have affected me the most is one that has to do with a little

girl being raped by her father. I remember seeing the news on my phone and after I saw it I

had a panic attack, I was completely frozen. I could not believe that a six years old girl was

raped by her own father. This unfortunate news affected me in such a negative way that I

could not stop thinking about it for almost one week. Some of the main ways that affected me

were remembering a personal experience, realizing how bad the world is, and starting to

think about the situation of many girls and women around the world.

First of all, it made me remember a bad experience that I had with my dad. Because of

that, I was able to feel the girl’s pain on another level. I almost suffered the same thing as her,

so I could strongly imagine what was happening in her head during the unfair experience, and

even after I had an idea of what the girl was feeling. I was full of thoughts and doubts. I

remember asking myself if the girl was safe now if she could feel guilty If her family
believed her. There were so many thoughts that surrounded me the whole week after I saw

the news on Facebook; which takes me to my next point.

After I saw the news and because of my thoughtful overthinking, I started realizing how

bad the world we live in can be. I realized that even when we feel safe, we are not completely

safe. Because even though the girl was in her own home, with the person that raised her and

that took her to this world, she was not safe. I started to think that safety was a relative

concept and that we are never safe until we die, and I also thought about other people's

situations. Even though it affected me because I started overthinking a lot, it was not

completely negative because I could learn how to have empathy about other people.

Finally, I focused on other girl's and women's situations around the world. Because I am a

girl and I identify myself with the feminine gender, I can understand better how women's

lives are. As mentioned before, I learned how to be more empathetic, and how to start

thinking beyond my situation. In the past, I was very concerned about this news, but now I

am not only concerned; I want to help people that often suffer from these unfortunate

experiences, and tell them that they are not alone anymore.

To sum up, seeing this news on Facebook led me to have problems sleeping,

overthinking, and excessive worrying. However, I am glad to have to see the new, because

thanks to it, I could develop empathy skills, communication skills, and most importantly the

desire to help others when I am capable of doing it. Even though for some people seeing a

news on the internet or on TV may be not meaningful, for a twelve years old girl in two

thousand sixteen was hugely important.