Image from here
For the Student Blogging Challenge, I’m going to write about a global issue – deforestation. (Yeah, I’m super creative – I did the same thing last year. But, this year I will write a better post about deforestation!) (To my friends – Yes, I know I said I was going to write about suicide. But it got kinda depressing and creepy, and I couldn’t find that much on suicide, so I decided not to)
Here we go!
Deforestation
Deforestation is a massive problem, yet it’s still happening all around the world. We have to stop deforestation, because not only are the trees getting destroyed, but the entire ecosystem as well
Deforestation severely impacts a lot of things. For example – climate change. When forests are destroyed by logging or burning, huge amounts of carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and methane, which is a greenhouse gas. About 30% of the carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere over the past 150 years is from deforestation. Forest destruction is also responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than every vehicle on the planet combined, which is tons!
Destroying forests affects people heavily. Three hundred million people in the world live in forests for shelter, and 1.6 billion rely on forests for their livelihoods. Think of all those people that would be affected if there were no forests left – over 25% of the human race will be deprived of their homes or livelihoods
Deforestation disrupts rainfall patterns as well. Trees extract water from the ground and release it into the atmosphere, so destroying trees loses the balance of the water cycle, leaving behind a drier climate. A lush rainforest can quickly turn into a dry and barren desert due to deforestation
Cutting down forests impact wildlife majorly, for a lot of different reasons. Since destroying trees affects the water cycle, making the temperature warmer, more forest fires and droughts occur, and plants that are relied on for food can’t grow. This has a very negative affect on animals, because it means they will starve, die, or will be forced to move to a different area. Up to 80% of wildlife live in forests – and we’re risking the extinction of all of it by cutting down trees
Over the past 50 years, roughly 50% of the world’s forests has been lost. At the rate we’re going, there are going to be no forests left by 2100. In under 100 years, there aren’t going to be any forests, unless we take action. Websites like the World Wildlife (WWF) and Greenpeace are about protecting nature
Thanks for reading!
Oh yeah, and happy Friday 13 (I love Friday 13!)