Deforestation and Its Devastating Effects on Our Planet

Deforestation is an ongoing issue that is progressively getting worse over time. The effects are destroying the forest and everything in them. The Forrest is a vital part of our lives and we need to protect it. Deforestation is a significant issue of our time and appropriate measures must be taken to prevent further damage to the one of a kind resource.

Deforestation occurs when the population grows. People need houses to live in. When they build new houses they are just adding to the problem of deforestation. As cities increase, there is a need to create more space for homes, organizations, and factories. The removal of the trees to build facilities whether it be houses or businesses is called, clear-cutting. Commercial logging also is also a big cause in clearcutting. Commercial logging is when trees are removed from a forest with the intent to sell and make a profit off of. Not thinking about how it is gonna affect everything in the future. Thus causing major conflicts between people and environmental issues.

There are a few main causes of deforestation as mentioned besides the ones that were previously covered. One of those causes is illegal logging. Illegal logging occurs when trees are harvested from protected areas then traded illegally. It also occurs when trees are removed at a high volume meaning a lot of trees are removed at one time without permission. Not only are their man-made causes of deforestation but there are natural causes as well but some of them reflect human actions. A more natural cause is forest fires. They happen when the temperature in the forest increase due to long periods of hot dry weather. Forest fires can also be caused when lightning hits a tree causing the tree to burst into flames and spreading to those around it causing an even bigger problem.

Nowadays, deforestation is one of the most destructive and controversial environmental issues. It destroys the forest to increase the sources needed for life. It is progressing fast and becoming one of the world’s worst environmental/geographical occurring disasters known to mankind, and is due to humankind’s greed, ignorance, and carelessness when considering the future of our environment. When a few plants are cut, it is not that big of a deal, but when the entire forests are being removed, that is a problem. The loss of trees and vegetation can cause changes in the climate, soil erosion, damage to crops, flooding, and it increases greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and a lot of other problems for animals and people. “Commitment to stop cutting the world's forests, governments and companies are not only failing to slow deforestation, but they are also rapidly driving the disappearance of more trees” (Gustin1).

One might not think that the trees all around seem important in everyday life, only acknowledging them as being beautiful scenery. But if you really think about it trees are everywhere in life. Furniture is made from trees, the paper needed to write on, the fruit consumed, even the air breathed comes from trees. Humans being consumers rely majorly on trees and forests as resources for everyday life. But if people continue to clear-cut the forest they will continue to shrink instead of growing and eventually when they are all gone humankind will suffer.

Humans need forests to live because without them everyone would suffer. The forests help us breathe. The trees that fill them produce oxygen for us to breath so we can live and they take in the carbon dioxide we let out. They keep people cool by producing shade and keep buildings and businesses cool reducing the need for electrical fans and or air conditioners. Not only do trees keep humans cool, but they also keep the earth cool. They do this by absorbing carbon dioxide that fuels global warming. The trees of the forest fight flooding, by using their roots to soak up the water and to hold the soil in place to stop erosion. On top of controlling flooding, they also soak up surface runoff to protect the other ecosystems downstream. Because stormwater carries toxic chemicals, like gasoline, lawn fertilizer and pesticides, and sometimes pig manure, that build up through watersheds.

Despite all of the things trees do to better our everyday life, people are still cutting trees for industrialization and expansion for big companies and people see deforestation as being beneficial because they are gaining resources and clearing land to be used to make money off of in the future, but what people don’t understand is that cutting the trees affects people more than they realize. Clear-cutting is just damaging life, whether it be people or wildlife, cutting down forest harm's so much more than it helps.

The clearing of the forest causes a huge decline in wildlife. It destroys habitats and causes the animals to move because if they don’t, they will not have the resources to survive. When the trees are cut down the animals are being threatened and their homes are harmed.

Not only are animals harmed, but water cycles are disrupted because trees can’t evaporate groundwater if they don’t exist and this leads to the surrounding climate to become much drier. Soil erosion then becomes more of a problem because trees are no longer there to protect and keep the soil in place (Deforestation). Generally speaking, through deforestation, wildlife is being not only disrupted but harmed, which causes an imbalance in the environment.

“The disruption and destruction of the forest also destabilize oxygen sources and greenhouse gases”(Deforestation). Trees play a major role in the containment of carbon dioxide and the purification of air through oxygen. When forests are cut down, the absorption of carbon dioxide stops and the carbon that is already being stored in the trees is released into the atmosphere. Deforestation or clear-cutting also affects global climate change and global warming.

Trees are humankind’s main way of storing carbon dioxide, but if the action of cutting down trees continues and keeps allowing the carbon dioxide to escape into the air, the climate would change drastically, then global warming would speed up. “Every year, due to deforestation, around 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide is released into the air”(Deforestation). Trees are a human’s main source of oxygen, and by cutting them down, people are being harmed. It Causes poor life quality for humans. Without food, humans are nothing. Without pure water humans get sick. Without trees, oxygen will lack supply. Carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases will fill the air, promoting and causing diseases.

“Some recent work has shown that the results of landscape transformation can have confounding effects on avian malaria, other haemosporidian parasites, and viruses” (infectious). Deforestation and especially clearcutting increase the incidents of malaria because it creates appropriate living conditions for the mosquitoes. They are considered favorable and appropriate living conditions because pools of water are being exposed to sunlight because of the shortage of trees. This increases temperatures, promoting and maintaining ideal breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes. When the mosquitoes start to breed and multiply they are full of the disease and they bite people and then the people are sick and the sickness begins to spread from person to person causing a major health concern.