The Problem : Global Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of forested areas--oh, but it is so much more. We have seen in the past fifty years one half of all tropical forests decimated, clear cut, and slashed and burned. At one time over forty percent of the world's land mass was forested. Today, forests cover just thirteen percent. Human's need of conquering nature and collecting money, demolishes, in the Siberian boreal forest, two times the area of Brazil's Amazon rain forest every single year. If these facts do not scare you, a list a thousand times longer will.

Deforestation causes a cascade effect in ecological terms. One problem just leads to another bigger problem and so on, until--what? We really do not know for we still have not felt all the probable repercussions. Existing problems like soil erosion, soil mineral leaching, and desertification have already left their mark. Global warming, increase in disease, and extreme changes in weather patterns are just becoming apparent. It is evident that we need water, we need oxygen, we need medicines, we need.. we need...we need...

The basic fact of the interconnectedness of all life leads people to realize that sustainability is necessary. Our forests are an important part of a living world. There are few who would try to argue against the idea of sustainability. Even some of the most destructive timber companies believe that their forest policies are sustainable. The problem lies in the fact that it is practically impossible to define sustainability. Different world views have different perspectives on the importance of developing in a sustainable way.

Forests are amazing! They provide necessary functions as well as adding beauty to an otherwise blue-green-gray and asphalt world. This beauty is linked directly with forests' biodiversity, which is all the wonderful, colorful, and enchanting organisms within its sanctuary. Indeed, tropical rain forests hold within their six percent of the land mass, by some estimates, ninety percent of all species on Earth. Sadly, these species and species all around the world are being displaced and killed for land.

Land has always been ripe for cultivation or civilization and in the past these qualities would have been good. Today, though, we must see our past failures, and retrieve and preserve what life is still here on Earth. We must save forests if there is any hope in saving ourselves.