Deforestation

Deforestation is the process in which land/forest is converted or altered for non-forest purposes. For example, forests being converted into cities and forests being altered into open fields for farming. Every 3 years, the size of Texas gets deforested. In about 63 years, the area of the United States will be deforested. The amazon rain forest is a notorious spot for deforestation. People destroy the forests for lumber, paper, essential oils, and urban development. In the next few centuries, it is possible for the all the forests on the earth to be destroyed if this alarming rate continues. This would increase global warming 80% and extinction dramatically and this may occur if the earth becomes overpopulated and their is a high demand for housing development and if companies keep on killing the forests for economic reasons. The population in 2050 will be 9,000,000,000 people; without birth control the forests may be destroyed just for housing development alone in a few centuries. In addition, if deforestation continues, most plant and animal bio-diversity will be extinct. The rain forest has millions of species of plants and animals and it would be a shame if that got taken away.

Prevention/solutions:
*Recycle Paper products and purchase recycled paper and/or companies with zero-deforestation policies.

*Donate to rain forest protection agencies
*Protest if you are willing to
*Inform people of the horrendous affects of deforestation
* Persuade government to help protect the rainforests
*Boycott products that cause deforestation or at least in the Amazon Rainforests where most bio-diversity exists. ie: Do not purchase palm oil,

*Right now Greenpeace is pressuring US corporation Herackles Farms to halt a project  that would bulldoze a massive plot of rainforest in Cameroon to make room for a palm oil plantation. Tell the CEO of Herackles to stop this forest destruction before it's too late.


Causes of deforestation:
*politics
*mining
*Hydro-electric power stations (When constructed they flood areas including forests)
*lumber companies
*Urban/Suburban development