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the importance of tropical rainforest ecosystem
destroying rainforest
destroying rainforest
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Ending Destruction of the Rainforest
As destruction of the rainforest continues, man slowly paves the inevitable path to a clear end. It has been known that the rainforest is an essential provider for the balance of the mother earth and that it acts as a key for life as we know it. Yet, the world still decides to quietly watch the disappearance. In fact, most people realize what exactly is taking place. But however, instead of trying to aid in the termination of this disaster. They place this into the back of their ignorant little minds thinking that it will not directly effect them. Every day the removal continues, it actually occurs extremely fast and at a pace of 80 acres per minute. That means at 80 acres per minute with 60 minutes per hour and 24 hours a day, there is a loss of approximately 115,000 acres a day. This is an exorbitant amount forest loss in one day meaning that at this pace hastened by the roadrunner ethics, that the forest will not have a place in the environment for very long. The fact is that now is the time to voice your opinion before and act it is too late.
Reasons
There are many reasons as to why a country would allow their environment to be desecrated. Most of this rests within a money factor, being that the rainforest's provide an abundance of marketable resources. Logging companies are known as the most outstanding. In fact many corporations have realized that the rainforest supplies an abundance of resources, however, there are four that are the most prominent. These reasons are, farming, ranching, logging and business related attributes, and overpopulation.
Farmers are the agents of more Rainforest destruction than any other factor. Farmers in rainforest countries are often po...
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...ignated land preserve.
Another solution is tourism. Ecotourism programs are available for those who adopt so that they may see their land and experience the true beauty of the forests. By touring the land, one prevents actions such as poaching, illegal wood harvesting and burning, and drug-runners with secret airstrips in the north jungle.
Conclusion
Now is the time to voice your opinion concerning the deforestation of these tropical regions. The fact is the each and every voice counts. According to Hayes ¡Ecology is not about saving a tree here and a river there; rather, it is about the complex system that governs how things work together. Both temperate and tropical rainforests are important, if we want to protect them, we must learn to use them with care and understand how forest ecosystems work, and how our everyday decisions effect their well-being.
Of all of the issues that effect the planet Earth from a Global Change standpoint, one of the most visible and highly publicized is the issue of rainforest destruction. The loss of this emerald on the planet's crown will end life as we know it, if something is not done...
The Amazon Rain Forest Is in Danger of Being Destroyed" by Devadas Vittal. Rain Forests. HaiSong Harvey, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2002. Reprinted from Devadas Vittal, Introduction: What Is the Amazon Rainforest? Internet: http://www.homepages.go.com/homepages/d/v/i/dvittal/amazon/intro.html, November 1999, by permission of the author. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010021212&mode=view
“In the time you can read this sentence, eight acres of tropical rain forest will have been bulldozed and burned out of existence” (Bloyd 49). However, this destruction has been neglected and overlooked for years. Many people do not understand the long-term consequences of losing the earth’s rain forests. The rain forests have provided people with many natural resources and medicines. The benefits that rain forests provide to people will be destroyed if the depletion continues to be disregarded.
The situation the Amazon rainforest is in exhibits the wise statement of the Mr. Lovelock. If the Amazon keeps being cut down, it will do more bad than good for humans. We shall lose countless ingredients for helping treat impending diseases like cancer and AIDS. We shall also be losing the many rare and exotic plants and animals as well as the lush green trees who provide many of the natural gases in our atmosphere. To keep harming the rainforest will be to harm the plants and animals, hurt the innocent native people, and destroy the enviroment. No person in their right mind would want these consequences. But unfortunately, this is the doom for humans if we don’t stop the desecration of not only this rainforest, but countless other natural sites of the Earth.
We have known that deforestation can lead to decline in biodiversity and land degradation. As John Donne has said, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”, not only governments are supposed to be responsible for deforestation, individuals should also take responsibilities. There are some things that we can do to help better the situation. For instance, we can refuse to use throwaway chopsticks and purchase wooden furniture, reduce the usage of papers by printing less, and educate others to cherish the forest resources.
Now is a critical time to address the issue of deforestation. Around the world forests are logged for timber and paper pulp. South America contains a large amount of mahogany and rosewood—highly coveted types of wood—within the Amazon basin. Forests are also cleared to make room for the planting of cash crops, such as coffee and soy, as well as livestock farms. After only a few years, overuse of these lands for crops typically causes soil erosion that quickly turns deforested regions into wastelands. Deforestation is responsible for 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than all emissions all motorized transportation added together. The destruction of forests does not just threaten our climate; it threatens the livelihoods of billions of people that rely on forests for food and economic activities. The modern world relies on rainforests more than for the well-known reason. People receive many of their fruits and medicines from plant species that survive solely within the heart of a rainforest. Let’s not forget that forests also serve as habitats to wildlife a...
The specific environmental issue/problem I will be talking about is the Deforestation in the Amazon. This has caused a severe environmental problem and a subsequent decline in well-being. The Amazon rainforest is known to be one of the Earth's largest rainforest and also one of the greatest natural resources. Many people call the Amazon the “Lungs of our planet” due to the vegetation. Since there is so much vegetation in the rainforest it will continuously take the carbon dioxide and turns it into oxygen. After researching about the deforestation of the Amazon I came across some statistics and information that really shocked me. Rhett Butler stated that “60-70 percent of deforestation in the Amazon results from cattle ranches while the rest mostly results from small-scale subsistence agriculture. Despite the widespread press attention, large-scale farming (i.e. soybeans) currently contributes relatively little to total deforestation in the Amazon. Most soybean cultivation takes place outside the rainforest in the neighboring cerrado grassland ecosystem and in areas that have already been cleared. Logging results in forest degradation but rarely direct deforestation. However, studies have showed a close correlation between logging and future clearing for settlement and farming.” After reading this I was shocked, but there also is some good news I came across. The problem I am writing about is occurring in the Amazon Rainforest which is not only located in Brazil but also Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the three Guyanas. The problem with deforestation is that it is affecting our economic health. As stated before by Rhett Butler deforestation in the Amazon is mostly due to cattle farms. The other major contributor i...
Governments in these countries need to stop thinking of forests as a renewable resource. The rate at which they are harvesting these areas drives them beyond the boundaries of sustainability. The efforts required by reforestation may not initially be cost effective, but it will result in not only the survivability of the environment, but of the country’s economy. Widespread awareness of these ideas will help fight against the natural human tendency towards instant gratification and short-term goals. Different methods of logging can be utilized to allow the rainforests to survive and regrow naturally and at a sustainable
The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and home to millions of species (National science foundation, 2011). Deforestation has increased rapidly over the last 5 years. Did you know that one hundred fifty billion meters of forest are lost each year? That is equivalent to about 36 football fields per minute! What is deforestation? For those of you who may not know, deforestation is the act of cutting down trees in order to use the timber or to replace the area for other purposes such as shopping centers and living areas. ("Deforestation," n.d.) You environmentalists have to start talking action. Deforestation exploits our ecosystems and natural resources, altering our environment. Stop the mass murder of trees!
The issue again is deciding what exactly is important enough to conserve. We cut down entire forests, and continue to do so today, but we all wish to plant a tree in our yard. It is interesting that we would wish to alter nature so drastically just to try to hold on to it in the most basic ways we know possible. Again it goes to the idea of nostalgia, we focus on aspects of nature we no longer have simply because we miss it. In places like Brazil the amount of forests are still abundant because their need is not just based in appeal. Yet, as Brazil urbanizes, it is going to be difficult for the trees to bounce back. One researcher focused on this problem and states, “Recent studies suggest that deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon could increase sharply in the future as a result of over US$ 40 billion in planned investments in highway paving and major new infrastructure projects in the region”. (Lawrence, 2001) A project that big could pave roads all over the country, which would mean lot of forests would be cut down to make way. It seems that humans are not so much the issue as the society in which they live in. Like America before the English, third world countries tend to be abundant in resources, or at the very least one main export. The problem with this is it creates a capitalist system that does not work in unison the environment. This is also a time to say it is important to know about society at the time of these movements, because they tend to coincide with the societal climate of the time. Despite all of this, one major thing we always seem to forget is that nature, despite our constant effort, has survived. It has been heavily altered and changed but it is still there and still important, so important that we surround ourselves with it
Deforestation is a word that displays an image of cruelty against nature. In any language, and on every continent, the word deforestation is frowned upon by all social classes, however why it is still happening? The consequences of this act that involves human beings willing to cut down trees, burning plants, and destroy habitats of animals are just actions to satisfy some human being. The Amazon rainforest covers various countries where 60% is in Brazil, and 13% in Peru, and produces 20% of total oxygen in the world. Unfortunately, the political leaders of the countries that make up the Amazon jungle are not interested in its full protection and do not realize that the world health is in their hands. The main purpose of deforestation is to expand, build, and work to advance political purposes. One example is the relentless pursuit of oil, which does nothing but to destroy wildlife, and by drilling the land it exposes soil to sunlight which creates erosion. That example reminds me a phrase from the philosopher Machiavelli, in which he thinks that end justifies the means. His idea suggests that if the objective is good, then it doesn’t matter if the way we achieve it is bad, wrong, or evil. Why do people continue supporting deforestation? This question has many answers, but relies on a behavior problem, lack of respect, and necessity to survive, mostly from very low-income humans. The government allows deforestation to expand, and this creates the following main consequences: Disruption of hydrologic cycle, erosion of soil, loss of biodiversity, and the increase of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
Some would argue that there is nothing that they can do or that they?re only one person. But one person can save one tree, and that?s one more tree that won?t be cut down. Some also argue that there are no solutions to deforestation when in reality there are; people just don?t realize that they?re there. Here is a list of three possible solutions that could curtail any more careless logging of the Brazilian Amazon. First, people around the world could ?buy? acres of rainforest. The Adopt-An-Acre Program, which was started by The Nature Conservancy and Earth's Birthday Project in 1990, has combined their efforts to educate children all over the country about the conservation of rainforests. Because of their diligent efforts, $5 million has been raised and 150,000 acres of rainforest saved (www.savenature.org). These facts alone show that the adoption program works, but the downside is that many underprivileged children and schools won?t be able to finance this kind of endeavor. Many people also d...
...ll persons. Only when the population of Earth contributes as a whole to stopping deforestation, will this dire situation be resolved. Deforestation must be stopped; our very survival depends on it.
Reflection on environmental issues that I learned in this course so far Deforestation is an environmental issue that has been widely discussed and it has plagued my community and country in general. However, while humans suffer the consequences of deforestation, animals and plants species suffers even more. The earlier humanity takes heed of empirically proven data of what deforestation is doing to the environment, the better it will be for us and the habitat. For the purpose of clarity, deforestation is the remover of Earth’s forests in large scale and leave the land massively damaged and without quality (National Geographic, n.d.). This environmental issue kept me up at night since digesting the fact about deforestation which is a huge problem in Liberia.