The Problem of Deforestation in The Environment

This essay is about environment and the problem of deforestation. An environment is everything that surrounds us. It can be living or non-living. The environment makes our ability to live much easier. It provides us with fresh air to breath and covers our planet with water. It is basically your home. Many of you know that our planet started to change. We are facing many problems like global warming, air pollution, water pollution, climate change and many more. This environmental problem will affect all living creatures on this planet. Human activity is the main reason behind all of these problems. Every day we make the environment worse without paying attention. For example nearly every house has at least one car, these cars produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. These gasses trap heat in the atmosphere and cause global warming. Although this is a huge problem, in my opinion deforestation is even a bigger issue that we are facing today.

Forests are really important to our lives. They are called the lungs of the earth, because they purify the air we breathe. They provide home to animals, plants and even some humans. We get many natural resources from them such as medicine, food, wood and fuel. Deforestation is the destruction of forests by humans for their use. The land is then turned into farms, houses, roads, factories and other human use. Unfortunately no trees were replaced after they were cut down.

Many of you are wondering “what causes deforestation?”. As you know the population is increasing every single day. More land is needed to build houses and roads. Obviously as the number of people increase the need of more food and farms. We also use trees to provide us with wood to build our houses, furniture and cooking. The main reason behind deforestation is agriculture. Farmers often clear the area to raise cattle. Forest loss is often caused by climate change. Tropical forests are extremely humid due to the water vapor released with oxygen. When trees are cut down the humidity level decreases. As the level of humidity decreases, plants dry out. When the trees are dry, fire damage increases.

Now let’s discover the effects of this tragedy. As you know trees reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. After they are cut down, burned or removed they become a source of carbon. 1.5 billion tons of carbon is released every year by deforestation. Loss of species is another effect of deforestation. Animals lose their habitat due to the destruction of forests. Some of the endangered animals are rhinos, orangutans, giant pandas and hundreds of other animals. Most importantly the quality of our life will be decreased. We will no longer be able to get food, coffee and medicine from trees. Fruits, nuts, paper, wood, medicine and fresh air are just some of the stuff we get from the forest. Due to the emissions of greenhouse gases, global warming will eventually occur and lead to many more disasters. For example due to the enormous rise in temperature ice caps in the North Pole will start melting and the sea level will rise.

In conclusion, deforestation is a huge problem that is facing our planet and will hugely affect us if we do nothing about. Now I’ll mention some ways how you can help protect the lungs of our planet. Planting a tree is one of the most useful solutions. Although trees take a long time to grow, replacing a destroyed tree will help replanting the destroyed area. A cheap and effective way to help is by going paperless and recycling. When you and many others go paperless, the amount of trees cut down will decrease. Recycling will help reduce the pollution. All meat eaters will find this solution hard, eat as much vegetables as you can or just go vegan. When we abandon meat products and start eating vegetables less space of the forest will be taken down to build farms. Governments could also help with this issue. They could provide laws against cutting down trees in particular places. Whenever someone breaks these laws, a hefty fee will be there to pay. This following solution will surely make a difference, educating kids and people unaware of this problem. When kids grow up believing in an idea, they will live their life knowing right from wrong. The environment is our home, we should all take care of it, protect it and keep it clean so we can live a peaceful healthy life.

Citations

1. Bella Nguen. December 8, 2018. What is the environment?. Quora. Retrieved 8,10,2019. From https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-environment-1
2. Christina Nunez. February 7, 2019.CLIMATE 101: DEFORESTATION. National Geographic . Retrieved 8/10/2019. From https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/
3. Emily holland, 2017,Learn the causes, effects, and solutions you can contribute to help stop deforestation.Vocal media.retrieved 8/10/2019 from https://vocal.media/futurism/deforestation-causes-effects-and-solutions
4. Jenn Savage. January 12, 2009. 5 ways to stop deforestation. Mnn. Retrieved 8/10/2019 From https://www.mnn.com/family/family-activities/blogs/5-ways-to-stop-deforestation
5. Marc lallanilla, January 3, 2019. Greenhouse Gasses: Causes, Sources and Environmental Effects. Live science. Retrieved 8/10/2019. From https://www.livescience.com/37821-greenhouse-gases.html