Did you know every year we cut down 18 million acres of forest? According to Bradford, eighteen million trees is about the size of Panama, and we are losing that every year. You can also think of that as losing 36 football fields of trees per day. If we keep up the rate of deforestation many animals species will go extinct, it will cause global warming to increase, and in 100 years we may not have any more rainforests left on the globe.

One of the major problems of deforestation is habitat loss and extinction. “Deforestation Facts” states that seventy percent of all land animals live in forests. When we destroy animals homes we are basically killing off the animals to because they need their homes to live. Plants are also affected by this, and even more than animals. Plants can’t just get up and move to a new place, they are stuck wherever they are and are therefore more susceptible to endangerment and extinction. We need animals to live because they provide us with food, clothing, and even medicine. When one species dies off, that causes other species to get hurt too because animals depend on each other for survival. We also need plants for medicine and oxygen; they provide us with over 25% of our modern medicine. Plants are also the base of every food chain, so if they get hurt so do all the animals who depend on them. We are currently going through the sixth mass extinction right now and deforestation is part of the reason for it. Some species that are being directly hurt right now due to this problem are the mountain gorilla, Bornean orangutan, giant panda, tiger, Javan rhinoceros, and countless other species of birds and mammals.  So, if we work hard to prevent deforestation from happening then we are also saving animals and plants from extinction.

Global warming is another event that is partly due to deforestation. According to “Deforestation Facts”, trees are essential in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. When we cut down forests that means less trees that store carbon dioxide and other harmful gases. The article goes on further to say that an older tree can store up to a ton of carbon. And not only does a tree store harmful gases but one tree can actually supply oxygen for two people. Trees work to protect the ground from drying up, and keep the water cycle running by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. If deforestation continues rainfall may lessen causing major disruptions in ecosystems around the world. If a forest gets cut down the land where it used to be can become nothing more than a barren wasteland. Another reason deforestation affects global warming is because when you cut down a tree it releases all its carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

According to “Deforestation and It’s Extreme Effect on Global Warming”, if the current rate of deforestation stays where it is, over 200 billion tons of carbon will be released into the atmosphere. Rainforests also help keep the earth cool. McSweeney says that trees cool the air by turning water in the ground into moisture in the air. If the trees go away then the air warms up creating large amounts of rising warm air. Then, when these masses of air hit the atmosphere it causes ripples to that flow out to upper latitudes warming those areas. We need to do something about this now and stop waiting for the worst outcome to occur.

Imagine living 100 years from now. In the worst case scenario you won’t know what rainforests are anymore. These beautiful jungles will be reduced to no more than wasteland or a dry savanna. This will cause many species to go extinct, so you will also no longer know what many animals are besides from pictures your grandparents would have shown you. Can you picture a world with no trees? That is what the future may look like if we keep up the current rate of deforestation. We take trees for granted so much. They are literally keeping us alive by providing oxygen for us to breath. We need to make sure that trees never become extinct or even endangered, and people can do that by simply planting trees. One tree doesn’t seem like a lot, but think if everyone on earth planted a tree. We would have more than 7 billion trees planted. What if everyone did that once a year? In 10 years we would have planted over 70 billion trees. According to Ran, 3-6 billion get cut down every year so we would actually have more trees than we started with. But, we also need to start working towards not cutting down as many trees. We can do that by finding other resources to use instead of trees and not buying products from companies that do deforestation. By doing these things people can help the environment become healthier and protect the world in the long run.

After reading this article hopefully someone has learned something and wants to make a difference.

Deforestation is hurting our world right now by killing off species, increasing the rate of global warming, and destroying our rainforests. Trees are an essential part of life that we cannot live without. They provide us with oxygen, store harmful greenhouse gasses, and give many animals a home. The human race will not be able to survive without these amazing plants that we take so much for granted. So, let’s do something about it either by planting trees or not buying products that are made of them. In the end, if we help trees we are helping ourselves and the whole planet. So, let’s try to put a stop to deforestation.