Deforestation

OK, so we are always hearing about how we need to save the trees, save the reforest etc..
What are we saving them from? Well we are saving them from ourselves and deforestation.
Simply put- deforestation is the removal of trees without replanting. And even replanting the trees isn’t a cure- because they could be of a totally different species and not provide the same benefits as the ones that were torn down,
Today, I am going to focus on the Tropical Rainforest. Almost half of our earths tropical rainforest have been destroyed- research shows that in less than 50 years if we continue on the same path- we will have destroyed 80% of the tropical rainforest.

Why should you care about the rainforest?
I’m not a complete idiot- I realize that deforestation meets some human needs but it also has devastating consequences. Deforestation limits our ability to find cures for certain diseases – For instance, I read somewhere that 25% of the worlds pharmaceutical products came from tropical forests. Can you imagine that if we already have found 25% of new medicines from the forest what else could be there?

Even more pressing is the effect deforestation has on our environment. There is research to suggest that Deforestation may account for as much as 10% of current greenhouse gas emissions.

There really isn’t a cure for deforestation- bc lets face it- we need paper products and we need lumber. But if everyone was more aware of the amount of paper they used and could drastically cut down that amount or even better RECYCLE- then we can certainly slow down the effect deforestation is having on our planet. Try to think of it this way- Yes, we need paper and lumber but we also need to cure cancer. Lets come to happy medium.

Here is an easy read article to learn more about the effects of deforestation
http://www.earlham.edu/~pols/17Fall96/inneske/kenpage.htm