Cutting down trees is bad and we shouldn’t do it, right? Well, it isn’t always that simple. Yes, deforestation can be bad and will most likely be a problem in the near future, but it should not be one of our main concerns.
Right now deforestation occurs most in South America, in Brazil, mainly, but if you look at a map of South America’s deforestation you will see that it is only a small portion.
Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t care about deforestation because it affects many things, one being animals, I think animals suffer the most from deforestation. According to an article I read, 50,000 species are lost every year because of deforestation. It is also one of the main causes of extinction. Chopping down trees destroys some animals’ homes, and it reduces food availability for other animals.
Some other things that deforestation affects are soil erosion, climate change and water cycle change. Cutting down trees can potentially disrupt the water cycle and affect the river flow as well as water volume.
A really sad fact is that the Amazon Rain Forest now emits more carbon than it absorbs, mainly because of fires set on purpose to clear agriculture land. More not so fun facts are that forest loss is the cause of around roughly 10% of global warming, and about 25 billion trees get chopped down a year.
But can deforestation be a good thing? Deforestation supplies us with wood for fuel, construction and manufacturing. Removing a tree is sometimes necessary. For example, if a tree is dead a safe option would be to get it removed. The tree could fall and damage your home or the houses around you, and what about the people in those houses the tree could potentially injure them.
So even though deforestation isn’t a good thing, it is not a bad thing either.