The Leading Causes Of Deforestation

Global warming is an issue that often doesn’t receive enough attention. Deforestation is among the leading causes of global warming. Deforestation is the clearing of trees and forest to make room commercial uses such as shopping malls, houses, and businesses. While this may not seem like an urgent issue in this country, we have to realize that the United States is one of the leading countries when it comes to deforestation only behind countries such as Brazil, Canada, and Russia. It is estimated that in 100 years, there will be no rainforests. Trees are critical to environmental health. They absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, provide shelter for wildlife and keep topsoil on the ground. Trees are often cut down to clear land for agricultural …show more content…
This can in largely be credited to the views that are presented to us the media. In the cartoon above, Jen Sorensen does a great job at portraying this issue. News sources only show us the views that they want us to see and do not focus on the issues that really matter. She presents the argument that the media should focus more on substantial issues. The cartoon however isn’t credible do to the fact that it’s how a person views the …show more content…
The term for this practice is called green-washing. The practice originates from around the 1980s. During that time, an oil company named Chevron commissioned a series of television and print ads to convince the public of its environmental good doings. The campaign showed Chevron employees protecting bears, butterflies, sea turtles and all manner of animals. “The commercials were very effective – in 1990, they won an Effie advertising award, and subsequently became a case study at Harvard Business school.” (Watson) Afterwards, many environmentalists considered the ads to be the “gold standard” of green washing. Many companies afterwards began to fake green wash in order to gain media attention without changing anything that they really do. This concept is illustrated in the political cartoon above drawn by Paresh Nath. In the cartoon, the man in the suit representing Corporations and other big businessmen. He is illustrated planting a tree in front of the media in efforts to appeal to the public. This cartoon also adds to my previous point that a huge problem with deforestation is the lack of media coverage. In the cartoon the media is only honed into the businessman planting the lone tree and not the fact that there have been so many other trees cut down. While this cartoon can be interpreted as an opinion, it supports the ideas