Environmental Issues
In this lesson we will discuss 6 environmental issues we currently face due to human development, how we can monitor the impact we have on our environment and soloutions to how we can ressolve an issue.
Issue 4: Deforestation
Deforestation affects the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As you will see later on, plants are the only thing that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As we clear rainforests to make way for more farms or take trees for timber, we are reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that can be absorbed. Also, when we burn the wood or leave it to rot, more carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere. Clearing trees also takes away a home for many other living organisms and soil errosion increases which leads to flooding and areas where no organisms live, decreasing biodiversity. Decreasing biodiversity is a bad thing because we might be causing the extinction of organisms which might actually be useful to us in the future, for things such as the development of new medicines.
Solutions
We can still gather enough wood for our needs and minimise deforestation by using methods of sustainable forestry. These can include copicing, rotational sector felling, gap dynamics or growing large areas of fast growing softwood trees specifically for the use of timber. It is important to remember that some people rely on cutting down forests and selling the wood in order to make a living and support their families, we must try to consider them when we are finding new ways to reduce deforestation.
Click on "next issue" to see the next environmental issue.