Essay On Effects Of Deforestation

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The Devastating Environmental Effects of Deforestation The government enacting stricter conservation laws helps end deforestation problems such as the destruction of wildlife, forest fires, flooding, and increasing global temperatures. With the population rising quickly, demand is rising globally for biofuels, food, and living space (“The World” 2). Deforestation is there to solve the problem, but not without a hefty cost. As of 2013, every minute on earth 50 football fields of forest vanish due to the clearing of trees, possibly for products such as paper or wooden furniture (Environment News Service. 2). The rainforests, which are being cut down very rapidly, are home to about 80 percent of the vast different species on the planet (“The World” 2)! Estimates from the Stern Report show that deforestation is…show more content…
“Scientists say one day’s deforestation is equivalent to the carbon footprint of eight million people flying to New York. Reducing those catastrophic emissions can be achieved most quickly and most cheaply by halting the destruction in Brazil, Indonesia, the Congo and elsewhere” (Howden 1). Trees clear the air of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, so as humans cut them down, there is less carbon dioxide being taken out of the atmosphere and more being put into it. Methods like tree clearing through the process of burning release vast amounts of harmful carbon dioxide into the air (“Deforestation” 2). Andrew Mitchell, the leader of the Good Clinical Practice, or GCP, said that “Tropical forests are the elephant in the living room of climate change” (Howden 1). Many humans only think about the CO2 that rainforests absorb, sometimes calling them the “lungs of the planet,” but forget that they also put out vast amounts of CO2 into the air when they are burned to make space for farmland (Howden

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