I grew up in a household where the outdoors were very present. Every day I would wake up and go for a walk with my parents and every night before bed I would go for another walk. The park was one of my favorite places to go when I was little. Climbing trees was a daily activity, going in treehouses was a daily activity, running through fields was a daily activity. Without trees, there would be no treehouses, no trees to climb. This is why deforestation was the first issue that came to my mind when I had to pick a current issue for this project. Of course, when I was little, I didn’t read the news to see how many trees were being cut down or how this was effecting the climate and the atmosphere, but we were told in school about how the polar bears would no longer have a home because all the ice was melting due to global warming which was caused by harmful gases heating up in our atmosphere. After doing research on this topic, I realized that a lot of the carbon that is harming our atmosphere and causing global warming comes from trees being cut down. Just from a forest being cleared away, multiple creatures are being affected. The Amazon is so far away from the North Pole, yet the deforestation taking place in the Amazon is causing the habitat loss of the polar bears in the North Pole. It was weird to learn about this because it made me realize how connected everything really is despite the distance between them. Polar bears are merely just the first creatures to feel aftershock of the clearing of multiple acres of trees. If the icecaps begin to melt, the water level will rise worldwide, potentially causing more serious threats than just global warming. People need to realize what is happening because of the clearing of forests before it is too late. Clearing 100 acres of trees and planting 2 doesn’t really add up to make the difference equal.
I feel strongly about this issue, however, some others may not. For example, I don’t know if this is completely true, but for some kids, they may have grown up in crowded cities where trees and parks were not present. Walks were not taken with their parents every morning and every night. These people may not care that the forest’s of the world are being destroyed. They might have better more important things to worry about, like what they’re going to eat for lunch. I feel like your childhood has a lot to do with how you feel about issues such as deforestation because when you grow up, you form opinions that you will most likely keep with you for the rest of your life. Sure they might shift and become more or less severe, but I feel like the opinions I formed while I was growing up are still very prevalent in my life today. After researching deforestation, I realized how serious it was becoming. I think it is important that we find a solution because trees play a very large role in the lives of mankind. They are responsible for regulating temperature and for producing oxygen for us to breathe. Without trees, I believe that there would be more waste in the air that we breathe since trees are also responsible for absorbing our carbon. Educating future generations about deforestation should be taken into serious consideration. To those kids who grew up in cities with no trees, learning about the effects of deforestation is important. The more people know about what is happening because of deforestation, the more people will begin to care and take action. |
Throughout this research project, my perspectives of deforestation and the problems it is creating have become much more significant. Before this project, I was aware that deforestation was a problem and that it was not only ruining the environment, but it was also detrimental to the species that inhabit all of the forests. As this project has progressed, I have gained a very sufficient amount of knowledge regarding this subject matter. I was shocked to discover how much deforestation had increased in such a short amount of time as well as how much forest has been lost throughout the years. As I found the statistics of deforestation, I was appalled at the amount of land that has been lost and how this has put over 50% of the animal species living in forests in danger. As I gathered this information, I became very curious as to what could cause so much land to be lost and why this was legally allowed to occur. I learned that a large amount of deforestation occurs, for one, due to the logging industry. To keep business up and running, many trees are cut down and a huge amount of logging takes place. This destroys a ton of land, which in turn wrecks the habitat of many species.
I didn’t really have a huge opinion about deforestation before this project besides the fact that I knew it was bad and was destroying our environment. I think that because we do not live in an area in which deforestation is prominent, is one reason that I was not as well aware of deforestation before. More significantly however, I believe that I see deforestation as a negative occurrence because I have focused on the bad consequences it has overall. On top of that, deforestation is not essential in my career or lifestyle, as it may be in others. I am able to understand why some people in other parts of the world may not be completely opposed to deforestation because their entire lives rely on it. For example, if people are loggers and that is the only business that they have, then it is essential for their lifestyle that they cut down trees. In their cases, they might look at the situation as being a way of life. They may realize that it is very bad for the environment and its inhabitants, but they have no other way of living so the good may overcome the bad for them. Throughout this project, I have gained a much more extensive amount of knowledge about deforestation, as well as not only the leading causes of it, but the solutions that can be put in place to stop it. I found it very interesting that one of the top solutions was something people can do individually. I discovered that if individuals begin to use recycled products, and enough people do so, that it can create an influence for a greater amount of recycled products to be used, cutting down the use of deforestation by a significant amount. I have learned that even just one small action is a large step towards helping put a stop to deforestation. Once deforestation decreases, it will allow the species that live in the forests the ability to live peacefully and the way that they should in the wild without disturbances that could be a threat to their survival. If deforestation is able to be reduced, then it will allow the rate of endangered animals throughout not only the Amazon and the forests in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Honduras, to decrease, but it will help many animals throughout the entire world. As well, reducing deforestation will help to prevent the transmission of toxic gases into our environment. The forests serve as a filter in a way to prevent all of the toxic gas emissions from reaching the environment, and with the plummeting amount of forest, these toxic gases are being let into the environment, polluting the air to create poor air quality, as well as hurting the environment as a whole. I am now able to further understand why deforestation is so dangerous and should be addressed so seriously, and in what ways it is greatly disturbing our environment. |