Globalization In The Amazon Essay

968 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of rapid population growth on the environment

Earth currently sustains a human population of seven billion. This number has more than doubled in the past fifty years, and isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon. Years of global development caused by such rapid population growth have brought economic and industrial globalization to new heights. Products one purchases at a local store can have originated from the opposite side of the planet. International trade, while providing many of the needs for this increasing human population, often does so at the expense of the natural world; the very world that provides the resources from which industry was birthed. In some cases, the ever-growing population puts insurmountable strain on Earth’s natural resources and processes. A prominent example …show more content…

There is some ambiguity to the original total area of the rainforest and the current amount of deforested lands, but all in question of the matter agree that it is a very serious issue. The total amount of area deforested in the Amazon has increased tremendously in the last forty years. 15.2 million hectares were destroyed in 1978 compared to a whopping 60.3 million hectares in 2001 (Margulis 6). These numbers directly correlate to the vast expansion in big business in the region. Evidence Increasing international demands for products produced around the Amazon is the central reason behind the increasing deforestation. Evidence And with deforestation growing, the affects on the environment have become more and more profound. Reducing the size of the forest causes animal and plant species to become extinct as their habitat changes or is destroyed. The Amazon even protects the region from floods, droughts, and soil erosion, a major problem in some parts of the world such as the country of Haiti. Its destruction also contributes to the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and global warming, perhaps the most extensive affect caused by deforestation in the Amazon. In yet, the Brazilian government has yet to tackle the problems resulting from this deforestation. They have placed economic success with far more importance.

Show More
Related

  • Toulmin Analysis of Daniel Pinchbeck's Breaking Open the Head

    1840 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wright, David, Heather LaRocca, and Grant DeJongh. "Global Problems." The Amazonian Rainforest: Forest to Farmland? The University of Michigan, 2007. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • Cattle Ranching in the Brazilian Amazon

    2240 Words  | 5 Pages

    The introduction of cattle ranching industries in the 1960s set the forefront for current Brazilian rainforest deforestation figures. During this time, development subsidy programs encouraged Brazilians to clear rainforest for pastureland and invest in new cattle ranches (Pancheco). Over the last 40 years, Brazil has destroyed 700,00 square kilometers of rainforest, an area about the size of Texas (BBC) (Enchanted Lear...

    Read More

  • Long Term Negative Effects of Deforestation in the Amazon

    1638 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thus, deforestation is one of the biggest problems in the world that people have to consider because it has three main long term effects: land desertification, species extinction and climate change. The research paper will discuss and consider the long-term negative effect on the Amazon rainforest which is caused by deforestation. First, the paper will present the causes and effects of land deforestation. Another consideration is endangered species extinction that could affect the Amazon’s biodiversity. Finally, the paper will focus on how climate change and global warming affect the Amazon and what people should do in order to save the forests and solve those problems.

    Read More

  • Deforestation In The Amazon Rainforest

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    Deforestation is the clearing of a forest and/or cutting down of trees for human benefits such as agriculture, wood exports, etc. Deforestation is the cause of numerous environmental impacts such as habitat loss, flooding and soil erosion. It can also cause climate change, by reducing the amount of rainfall and changing the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and increases the risk of forest . Tree growth is important for biodiversity because they absorb carbon dioxide which is a harmful greenhouse gas . However, since deforestation reduces natural carbon sinks, it disrupts the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the air to increase. This poses a serious threat since carbon dioxide traps the sun’s heat and radiated light inside the earth’s atmosphere. So, with the increase in carbon dioxide more heat is trapped and thus adding to the effects of global warming. Among the many places where deforestation takes place, Amazon seems to be one of the most affected ones. More than 20 percent of it is already gone, and much more of it is severely threatened due to deforestation . It is estimated that the Amazon alone is vanishing at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year .

    Read More

  • The History Of Amazon

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    Amazon is a company that is a tremendous help to students, parents, company’s, businesses and any other entity that would require their services. By the creativity of one man, he changed lives and the business market forever. Amazon is used for many purposes such as books, clothing, shoes, medicine, hardware, and just about anything else you could name. Before the analysis of the company, the history and management must be explained.

    Read More

  • Enviromnetal Degradation as a Result of Overpopulation

    3179 Words  | 7 Pages

    In 1994, the world population was 5 602 800 000. This population had a doubling time of only forty-one years (De Blij and Muller, 1994, p.527). The massive amount of people has had highly destructive impacts on the earth’s environment. These impacts occur on two levels: global and local. On the global level, there is the accumulation of green house gases that deplete the ozone layer, the extinction of species, and a global food shortage. On the local level, there is erosion of soils (and the loss of vegetation), the depletion of water supply, and toxification of the air and water. The earth is dynamic though, all of these aspects are interrelated, and no one impact is completely isolated. All of these destructive elements can be traced to our enormous population. As the population increases, so do all of the economic, social, and technological impacts.

    Read More

  • Possible Solutions of Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

    2778 Words  | 6 Pages

    Nowadays deforestation is the one of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the world. Deforestation is cutting down, clearing away or burning trees or forests. Particularly tropical rainforests are the most waning type of forests because of its location in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, central African countries and Brazil. Deforestation rate in those regions is high enough to worry about, because of large economic potential of forest areas. As the result of causes such as agriculture land expansion, logging for timber, fire blazing and settling infrastructure there might be serious impacts in future. For instance, extinction of endemic species of animals and plants which will be feral, increase of greenhouse gas emissions which may lead to global warming and consecutive catastrophes, destruction of home for indigenous residents which is considered as violation of human rights. Some people can argue with these drawbacks telling that deforestation have more valuable benefits such as growth of economics, production of food and providing better opportunities for life for poor families. However, these benefits are quite temporary and government of that countries and world organisations tries to halt deforestation proposing several solutions. Deforestation problem is especially acute in the Brazilian Amazon, where its rate is much high comparing with other regions. This paper will describe world-wide rainforests, causes and effects of deforestation, and evaluate possible solutions of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

    Read More

  • Destruction of the Amazon Rainforest

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    In South America lies the largest and most wondrous rainforest in the world, the Amazon Rainforest. This 1.4 billion acre forest represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most bio-diverse tract of rainforest in the world. Ten percent of all known species on the planet are found in this rain forest, most of which have yet to be discovered. For the past century, the Amazon has been gradually decreasing in size due to agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging. In its current state, the Amazon is losing land equal to the size of the state of Delaware every year.

    Read More

  • The Disappearing Rainforests

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Disappearing Rainforests Conserving the rainforest is a global issue of great importance. Tropical rainforests provide a habitat for animals, a unique ecosystem for vegetation, and an abundance of resources for humans, yet they are being destroyed at an astonishing rate. Experts estimate that if these endangered territories continue to be consumed in this manner, no more will be standing in forty years (Rainforest). Examining the social, environmental, and economic costs of the continued destruction of the Earth's tropical rainforests will prove that deforestation for short-term profit is ultimately not viable.

    Read More

  • Discussion Questions: Ellwood Globalization Then And Now

    433 Words  | 1 Pages

    His three key arguments are historical trends of trade, economic quality of trade, and contemporary financial destabilization. First, he accounts how Columbus’ explorations instigate an age of exploitation and extraction of resources by the major European powers (16). In addition, he extrapolates through numerous graphs on how trade throughout the decades have outstripped global output by far (20). Also, he recounts the effect that foreign investment of capital had on the “Tiger economies” which lead to massive unemployment and bankruptcy in Southeast Asia (27). All of this compounds to illustrate Ellwood’s argument about the nature of globalization and its debilitating effect on the world at

    Read More

  • Essay About Overpopulation

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the last 50-year, the human’s population has dramatically grown from one billion in 1999 to seven billion in 2013 (Norwich University, n.d., p. 1). The scientists estimated that by 2050 the world population will achieve his peak point of almost ten billion, which means humans will need another planet to live in. According to Kochhar (2016), “Overpopulation is an undesirable condition where the number of existing human population exceeds the carrying capacity of Earth” (para. 1). Overpopulation is a problem that can cause future threats, which would affect our food, water, and energy. However, we can find variety of possible solutions to solve this problem.

    Read More

  • Climate Change In The Amazon Rainforest

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Amazon Rainforest is the world's largest tropical rainforest that we have today on our planet. It covers a wide range expanding almost entirely across from East to West of South America. It is most famous for its broad biodiversity and includes the famous Amazon River that is home to rare and diverse species. Today, the Amazon Rainforest is under threat of complete deforestation and has greatly lost more than half of its tropical rainforest due to cattle ranching, soy bean farming, sugar cane plantations, palm oil and biofuel agriculture. The indigenous people are doing their best to fight against the government to protect their land and conserve the rainforest but without capital finance, it is seeming to be an impossible project.

    Read More

  • Impact of Deforestation on the Earth

    1391 Words  | 3 Pages

    Commercial logging for lumber or fuel supplies is another factor. The cutting down of trees for a profit is also depleting our forests. Another travesty of commercial logging is the damage caused to other trees that surround or are in the path of the trees being harvested. Logging also increases the destruction to forests in the event of fire as outline in the article entitled “Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia: History, Rates and Consequences” written by Philip M. Fearnside, “Logging greatly increase the susceptibility of forest to fire. Once fire enters it kills trees and increase...

    Read More

  • Overpopulation Is a Growing Problem

    1413 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overpopulation is a growing problem all over the world. This is a very important environmental issue and needs to be dealt with. This environmental problem is affecting many countries around the world, but mostly the poor and impoverished countries that don’t have the resources to help deal with these issues. It also affects the environment like plants, animal life and air quality. When the population of people expands we need more natural resources from the environment, so we consume more than we can produce.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Environmental Philosophy

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overpopulation can be seen as one of the key factors responsible for the state of our rapidly decaying earth. Developments in medicine, agriculture and technology have allowed for the human race to take over all other species and be excluded from the natural food chain. Humans, particularly westerners, lead lives of extreme consumption that take huge tolls not only on the earth but also on certain groups within society. A great division has developed between the western world and the third world.

    Read More

More about Globalization In The Amazon Essay

Open Document