Deforestation- Harmful or Not?

Deforestation. Another great danger to Mother Nature. What is it, though? Deforestation is to clear an area of forests or trees. Now if you think about it, trees produce Oxygen right? They suck up CO2 that we breathe out and use it to make Oxygen. Did you know that one tree can absorb up to 13 lbs. of CO2 a year? And who gets the benefits from this? HUMANS DO! Without Oxygen we couldn't even survive. And if you noticed that Deforestation means, "to clear an area of forest or trees", then we need to do something about it!
Deforestation is one of the main causes of the greenhouse effect. It is responsible for about 20% of the world's greenhouse gas transmissions, or transporting the gases to other places.
Some of the main causes of Deforestation are Logging, Mining, Oil and Gas extraction, cattle ranching, and Agricultural cash crops. Now that's a lot of reasons why Deforestation is occurring on our planet. It's time for us to think out of the box and realize what mistakes we are doing for ourselves and the next generation. If we have the chance right now to make everything better, then why don't we? There is a quote from the United Kingdom newspaper known as the "Times newspaper" that says, "if we lose the battle against tropical deforestation, we lose the battle against climate change."
There is a method of Deforestation called, "Slash and Burn." Slash and Burn is one method that makes no sense to me at all. Here is the easy but harmful procedure. Farmers cut down trees in one area of a rain forest or deciduous forest. Then they ignite the dead trees so that they will break down and create chemical nutrients. The chemical nutrients fertilize the soil which farmers then grow crops on for a short period of time- maybe a year or two. But then, the nutrients start to decrease, which leaves the soil empty and unable to grow crops. And then that land is wasted.
Deforestation mainly takes place in the rain-forests or deciduous forests. Now if you cut down all of the trees in those forests, your not just taking away trees but also many other plants and animals! Animals and plants also help humans survive. Deforestation is also disturbing the food chain!
Did you know that every second 2.4 acres of forests are cut down, which is equal to  two U.S. football fields! And then every minute, 149 acres! Every day, 214,000 acres! Which is equal to an area larger than New York City! And every week, you wouldn't even want to imagine this horrible number. 78 million acres of forests are cut down and destroyed every week! That's an area even larger than Poland! That's what I call a disaster!
So everyone, please do not treat this issue like nothing. It contains many valuable resources.
Tell your friends about this and maybe it will get to someone that will really make a great deal about it. Take care of trees and realize that they are very very VERY important resources. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think about this global issue. Is it harmful or not to you? Thank you everyone and have a nice day!


Anuja