Deforestation | Teen Ink

Deforestation

November 15, 2007
By Anonymous

Will our children ever get to see the rainforest? We are cutting the rainforest, which is affecting our environment. We should help keep it in good shape. Will deforestation ever stop? Is deforestation a cause to climate changes? Stopping deforestation can surely improve our environment, leading to a healthier planet.
How many trees are we taking? Based on information from E. Magazine, only 40 percent of the approximate 6,750,000 square miles of trees remain on Earth. This contributes to the damage that has already been done. In the United States, about 200 million tons of wood products are consumed annually. These numbers are really high compared to the amount of trees growing back. According to the New Renaissance Magazine, the consumption of wood is increasing 4 percent every year in the United States. In the lower countries of the U.S, the consumption of wood is increasing 7 percent annually. Compared to the United States, this high consumption of trees relates to the poor protection of the environment.
How are we using these trees? In all the continents, commercial logging is the major cause of rain forest destruction. Commercial logging not only take a great amount of trees, but it also helps the growth of cities in forested areas. As roads are built to transfer the trees, other users have the ease of entering the forest. Illegal logging also makes trees disappear faster. The bad thing about illegal logging is that they never plant any trees in exchange. The growth of cities is also a major cause of forest destruction. Based on information from MSN Encarta, the consumption of wood used to build cities, uses about 37 percent of the total wood consumed every year. This creates a greater amount of deforestation.
What is the damage and what can we do? As a result of deforestation, we are losing between 50 and 100 animal and plant species each day. Based on information from Microsoft Encarta, the loss of plants has reduced over 25 percent of the world’s pharmaceutical products. These products are at great benefit to many people. The loss of plants and trees also contributes to climate changes in the environment. As more forests are destroyed, not only do the trees die, but also all of the species living in it. This always leads to extinction of several species. Which can then make great changes to the ecosystem.
Unfortunately, many people think that deforestation is not doing any damage to our planet. When people take some trees down, they think that some trees wont do nothing. But if you put all the people together, many trees are being cut down. Since all that matters to these people is the wood, they don’t care about what could happen to the world.
Do you think deforestation can really affect our environment? Many people cut down tress without knowing the damage they’re doing to out planet. If you think about the effects of deforestation, it can change the entire world. You can make sure this doesn’t happen by telling other people the effects of deforestation. With your help we can make our planet a better place to live. We can start planting more trees and stop the excess of deforestation by applying limits to it. Why not plant a tree today?


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