AP Biology : A Survey of Human Stupidity: Deforestation

A human being by definition is "a person, especially as distinguished from other animals or as representing the human species..." This means that as human beings, we are set apart from the animals in the world. In my opinion, I believe that this means we have power over the animal kingdom and in return are supposed to care for it. To protect the animal kingdom, we must first protect the environment they live in. This also means we need to protect the autotrophs and flora that make up the lowest level of the food chain. If we are cutting out the lowest level of the food chain, we are cutting out the rest of the animal kingdom and in the end, ourselves.

Forests cover about 30% of the world’s land area and at the current rate of deforestation; the forests could be gone in a hundred years according to National Geographic. There are many reasons for deforestation but in the end, money is the biggest factor. Deforestation has many impacts on the environment, the biggest being the, "...loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes." These shocking statistics come from National Geographic and show that if we don't do something about deforestation, we could potentially not only lose all of our forests, but 70% of all the animals and plants that live there.

In my opinion, human impacts all affect each other. This means if you help one, you can help them all. For instance, if we recycle more of our paper products there won't be the need to cut down as many trees. If the trees stay, then there will be more protection for the animals that are going towards extinction. If the forests are cut down, the animal being poached are forced to live in the new boundaries of the forest. With smaller forest boundaries, it is easier for poachers to trap and kill their desired prey aiding in the animals extinction. There is also the issue of global warming and climate change. With the large amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, there are not enough autotrophs to perform photosynthesis to convert CO2 back into oxygen. There is so much more to recycling as well. If we can reuse, there will also be a decrease in pollution in the air and on the land. Plants cannot grow under certain pH levels that can be affected by the garbage that seeps into the ground. As you can see, by doing things like reduce, reuse, recycle we can change more than just deforestation but human impacts as a whole.

We have the power to change the world! The question we must ask ourselves, is how we are going to change it and what is it going to cost us?

Thanks for reading!

~Em

P.S.

Here is YouTube video showing a time lapse of deforestation!