Why The Destruction of our Forests Matters
By James Donahue
September 16, 2016
The University of Queensland, Australia, recently conducted an international study that found that one-tenth of the wilderness on Earth has been destroyed in the last 20 years.
The report published in Current Biology, found that the hardest hit areas have been in the Amazon forest in South America, where about 30 percent of the wilderness has fallen prey to agricultural expansion, and Africa which has seen about 14 percent of its wilderness lost.
A ten percent loss in trees and other green vegetation may not seem to be much, but a continued slashing of trees, coupled with attacks by infestation and disease brought on by global warming, is intensifying the looming crisis we are referring to as “climate change.” Humans have been cutting and slashing forests for years as our numbers have grown. We are utilizing the land to build homes and grow food.
Humanity and trees have maintained an incredible symbiotic relationship for hundreds of thousands of years. The destruction of our forests is threatening this planet’s ability to sustain the delicate balance of nature that makes it possible for life to exist.
It is simple biology. There is an amazing photosynthesis that occurs in the leaves of trees during the warm months of the year. The trees consume the excess carbon dioxide in the air and exhale oxygen. Humans breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. We have always worked together to keep everything in balance.
The Earth needs a certain amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to maintain a certain amount of the heat of the sun. Scientists calculate that if there was no carbon dioxide in the air, the Earth would turn into a ball of ice. But too much CO2 in the air throws everything out of balance and the planet gets too hot.
This is what is bothering scientists about the mass build-up of carbon emissions. Since humans began burning the carbon fuels long stored deep in the earth, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has been steadily increasing.
We got away without noticing the effect of the extra CO2 for years because most of the extra heat was being absorbed by the Earth’s vast oceans. But now the oceans are getting too warm. This is having an effect on normal ocean currents and it is causing a rapid melting of polar ice. The loss of the ice is causing a release of large volumes of stored methane gas, which has an even worse greenhouse effect in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide. As all of this is happening the human population is growing to an estimated 7 billion, which means even more people exhaling CO2, cutting down trees to build homes and grow food, thus leaving less number of trees to consume the CO2. Everything is compounding.
To make it even more terrifying, the effect of climate change has created drought conditions and thus the world is experiencing intense forest fires that are not only consuming thousands of acres of trees, but endangering lives. Other areas are getting too much rain, which also destroys homes but also crops that are going to be needed to feed a hungry world in months ahead.
This is why it is so important that world leaders understand the extreme danger we humans have created for ourselves. It is why we must stop allowing the oil and gas companies to have their way in drilling more wells and building more pipelines to maintain a fuel system that should have been scrapped 20 years ago.
We have alternative sources of energy. They have been available for more than a 100 years. The problem has been that there was always more money to be made by selling coal, oil and natural gas because the volume of fuel could be measured as it was sold. Capturing the heat of the sun, surf and wind can be accomplished by simple devices installed on individual homes and business places. When the sun hides behind a cloud, we have developed wonderful batteries that now capture a lot of energy and hold it long enough to drive a car for a hundred miles or more.
It is due time for us to wake up and change our way of living. To do anything less is to convict our children and grandchildren to meet a terrible fate. Once they get their hands on the reigns it may be too late to do anything to stop the death of our planet.
It may already be too late.
By James Donahue
September 16, 2016
The University of Queensland, Australia, recently conducted an international study that found that one-tenth of the wilderness on Earth has been destroyed in the last 20 years.
The report published in Current Biology, found that the hardest hit areas have been in the Amazon forest in South America, where about 30 percent of the wilderness has fallen prey to agricultural expansion, and Africa which has seen about 14 percent of its wilderness lost.
A ten percent loss in trees and other green vegetation may not seem to be much, but a continued slashing of trees, coupled with attacks by infestation and disease brought on by global warming, is intensifying the looming crisis we are referring to as “climate change.” Humans have been cutting and slashing forests for years as our numbers have grown. We are utilizing the land to build homes and grow food.
Humanity and trees have maintained an incredible symbiotic relationship for hundreds of thousands of years. The destruction of our forests is threatening this planet’s ability to sustain the delicate balance of nature that makes it possible for life to exist.
It is simple biology. There is an amazing photosynthesis that occurs in the leaves of trees during the warm months of the year. The trees consume the excess carbon dioxide in the air and exhale oxygen. Humans breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. We have always worked together to keep everything in balance.
The Earth needs a certain amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to maintain a certain amount of the heat of the sun. Scientists calculate that if there was no carbon dioxide in the air, the Earth would turn into a ball of ice. But too much CO2 in the air throws everything out of balance and the planet gets too hot.
This is what is bothering scientists about the mass build-up of carbon emissions. Since humans began burning the carbon fuels long stored deep in the earth, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has been steadily increasing.
We got away without noticing the effect of the extra CO2 for years because most of the extra heat was being absorbed by the Earth’s vast oceans. But now the oceans are getting too warm. This is having an effect on normal ocean currents and it is causing a rapid melting of polar ice. The loss of the ice is causing a release of large volumes of stored methane gas, which has an even worse greenhouse effect in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide. As all of this is happening the human population is growing to an estimated 7 billion, which means even more people exhaling CO2, cutting down trees to build homes and grow food, thus leaving less number of trees to consume the CO2. Everything is compounding.
To make it even more terrifying, the effect of climate change has created drought conditions and thus the world is experiencing intense forest fires that are not only consuming thousands of acres of trees, but endangering lives. Other areas are getting too much rain, which also destroys homes but also crops that are going to be needed to feed a hungry world in months ahead.
This is why it is so important that world leaders understand the extreme danger we humans have created for ourselves. It is why we must stop allowing the oil and gas companies to have their way in drilling more wells and building more pipelines to maintain a fuel system that should have been scrapped 20 years ago.
We have alternative sources of energy. They have been available for more than a 100 years. The problem has been that there was always more money to be made by selling coal, oil and natural gas because the volume of fuel could be measured as it was sold. Capturing the heat of the sun, surf and wind can be accomplished by simple devices installed on individual homes and business places. When the sun hides behind a cloud, we have developed wonderful batteries that now capture a lot of energy and hold it long enough to drive a car for a hundred miles or more.
It is due time for us to wake up and change our way of living. To do anything less is to convict our children and grandchildren to meet a terrible fate. Once they get their hands on the reigns it may be too late to do anything to stop the death of our planet.
It may already be too late.