A lot of times forests have been torn down to put a freeway down or build houses. There are many different forms of deforestation that some people might not know of or don’t realize the harm it does to the world. Nowadays there are many different ways to plant trees again. There are search bars where every search you do is one tree that gets planted. But also other initiatives like donations you can do or places where you yourself can plant trees to eventually create some kind of forest. But why is deforestation a thing, what are the different forms and why is it bad?
Deforestation
Deforestation is the process of taking down forests to create space for houses or a freeway for example. The main causes of deforestation are climate change, infrastructure, industrial agriculture, mining and timber logging. Climate change is the leading cause because of wildfires and droughts. Mining is because of the increasing demand for minerals. Timber logging is because of the wooden products we all use. Infrastructure is because of the population growth which leads to a need for cities and more housing. And industrial agriculture is because of meat production, soy and palm oil plantations.
Industrial agriculture
Industrial agriculture is to blame for just about 85% of all the deforestation. Palm oil deforestation is the clearing out of forested areas to start a palm oil plantation. Palm oil is such a largely used product that we can’t afford to let go of it so the plantations still exist. There are many businesses who try to find a more sustainable way to produce things as palm oil. This also counts for products that are produced in a similar way.
What can we do
As the people who use all the products that need deforestation, all we can do is try to live more sustainable. By eating less meat and using less wooden products the deforestation will hopefully decrease. It’s hard because it’s also done to give the people more places to live because of the fact the earth has nearly 8 billion people. And there is such a shortage in housing, it’s hard to find other ways. And if businesses tried working with more eco-friendly machines and people will drive more electric cars, the Co2 emissions will hopefully go down, which will impact climate change, hopefully for the better. Maybe that will lead to less drought and wildfires. So we’re not saying goodbye to trees. If we were, life would become much harder.
