All of us know that trees produce oxygen and that it is vital for our survival, but trees do so much more. Our forests are natural sinks of carbon dioxide and produce fresh oxygen as well as helps in regulating temperature and rainfall. Now forests cover 30% of the land but every year tree cover is lost due to growing population demand for more food, shelter and cloth. Deforestation simply means clearing of green cover and making that land available for residential, industrial or commercial purpose. This article will look into causes and effects of deforestation.

Deforestation occurs around the world, though tropical rain forests are particularly targeted. NASA predicts that if current deforestation levels proceed the world’s rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years which would be a disaster.

There are many reasons of deforestation, but most of them are related to money or to people’s need to provide for their families.The biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more space for planting. Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also cut tons of trees each year. Loggers, some of them acting illegally, also build roads to access more and more remote forests – which leads to further deforestation. Not all deforestation is intentional. Some is caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires, which may prevent the growth of young trees.

Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Deforestation also causes climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water steams back into the atmosphere. Without trees forest lands can quickly become deserts. Trees also play a huge role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere – and increased speed of global warming.

We can already see negative results of deforestation, but we can try to improve the situation. The quickest solution to deforestation would be to simply stop cutting down trees and plant new ones. The cutting should be balanced by the planting enough young trees to replace the older ones which were cut down. It is a slow process, but it can change a lot.

Tropical rain forests which cover 6-7% of the earth’s surface, contain over half of all the plant and animal species in the world. So it is time to think that every action of ours have some kind of effect and cutting down trees can have a huge effect to the Earth in the near future. So all of us should think of a ways to stop or at least to reduce deforestation.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax.

We all want to help our planet. But how? The answer to that is sitting right in front of us – three times a day. By going vegetarian, you can reduce the impact of climate change, rain forest destruction, and pollution, while saving water and other precious resources.

Here are a few facts about the food you put on your plate :

Raising animals for food produces more greenhouse gas emissions (gases that trap heat in the atmosphere) than all of the cars, planes, and other forms of transportation combined. So switching to a diet free of eggs, dairy and meat saves more carbon emissions (CO2) than driving a Prius car.

   In the United States, 70% of grain grown is used for animals. We could end world hunger with that food, but instead we give that food away to animal farms.

“By definition we are in the “environment” right now. “Saving it” is saving ourselves. What is so hard to understand about that?”

About 30% of Earth’s land mass is used for raising animals for food (including land used for grazing and growing feed crops).

To produce one pound of animal protein vs. one pound of soy protein, it takes about 12x as much land, 13x as much fossil fuel, and 15x as much water.

The billions of chickens, turkeys, pigs, and cows who are crammed onto factory farms each year in the U.S. produce enormous amounts of methane (natural gas, the second most prevalent greenhouse gas in U.S.). “Pound for pound, the comparative impact of [methane] on climate change is 25 times greater than [carbon dioxide] over a 100-year period.”

     Why vegetarian isn’t enough – the production of dairy products necessitates the death of countless male calves that are of no use to the dairy farmer, as well as the premature death of cows slaughtered when their milk production decreases. Similarly, in the egg industry, involve the killing of the ‘unnecessary’ male chicks when they are only a day old.

Around 6mln. hectares of forest land a year – an area equivalent to Latvia or twice the size of Belgium – is converted to farmland a year.

Animal waste contains many pathogens (anything that causes a disease) including salmonella, E coli, cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform, which can transfer to humans through water run-off, or manure, or touch. That makes us prone to diseases.

The meat eaters get increased chances of obesity, cancers, heart diseases and other illnesses as well as a hole in the pocket. A meat diet is generally considered twice as expensive as a vegetarian one. So why not be rich, healthy and help our planet at once by going vegan\vegetarian?

Animals eat large amounts of grain, soybeans, oats and corn; however they only produce a small amount of meat, dairy products and eggs in return.

To sum up, animal farms pollute the air, the water, use up our resources and spread cruelty to animals and much more! There has never been a better time to go green by eating green. Join me! “If you don’t like seeing pictures of violence towards animals being posted, you need to help stop the violence, not the pictures.” – Johnny Depp.

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