Commercial Genocide: The Causes Of Deforestation

Improved Essays
Commercial Genocide The Earth and the gifts it gives are being exploited to earn money. This is because of worldwide deforestation. Countries destroy their trees to earn an easy profit at the cost of the Earth’s forests. Deforestation is used to create plantations, clear land for real estate development, and to harvest paper or wood. According to Kerry Cesareo and Linda K. Walker of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), “46-58 thousand square miles of forest are lost each year.” Fortunately, there have been many advancements in deforestation research and some nations have pushed for action to prevent further destruction of the Earth’s forests. However, much of the damage that has been done to the planet as a result of deforestation cannot …show more content…
Forests are essential to the Earth as they regulate global warming by absorbing carbon (Cesareo and Walker). Unfortunately, trees can also greatly harm the climate when they are cut or burned down. Struck states that, “As forests die, they release carbon dioxide, further raising Earth’s atmospheric temperatures.” As trees are cut down, the Earth’s climate is rapidly harmed. Deforestation is the second largest man-made contributor to increase in carbon levels of the Earth’s atmosphere and is responsible for about fifteen percent of all global warming (Bradford). The sheer amount of carbon released into the atmosphere is dooming future generations at an immense pace. Every year, almost 1 billion tons of carbon enter our atmosphere as a result of deforestation (Bradford). Global warming will only get worse as time goes on, but the speed of it can be reduced. If countries choose to plant more forests and cut down fewer trees, more carbon will be retained inside them. As global warming intensifies, the risk of forest fires increases significantly (“Deforestation.”). As a result, even more trees will burn and input their carbon into the environment. Deforestation is causing irreversible damage to the Earth and must be …show more content…
Entire countries are exploiting irreplaceable natural resources to earn money. Every hour, nearly six miles of forests are demolished (Struck). If deforestation is not reduced, the damages done will continue to become more and more severe. Unfortunately, those who earn money by cutting down trees will not stop for the benefit of the planet. They have no incentive to, because protecting the environment would lower profits. However, it is possible to incentivize countries to slow or even stop deforestation. In 2008, Norway offered Brazil a 1 billion dollar reward for reducing deforestation (Struck). Although this is a good step toward the end of unnecessary deforestation, it is not in most countries’ budgets to pay to protect the environment, as they have no incentive either. Because of this mentality, the Earth has been permanently damaged. Until governments put an end to deforestation, the Earth and its natural forests will continue to be destroyed. The selfishness of past and present generations will cause the suffering of future generations if changes are not made quickly. Fortunately, there is still time to prevent catastrophe, but actions must be taken

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    With carbon dioxide production so high and on the rise, it is obvious that more trees are needed than ever before to counter global warming, and yet we continue to remove them faster than we can repair. The effects of deforestation are only just beginning to be seen, and without forest management on a global scale it will soon be felt by the future generations to…

    • 1268 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What kind of world would allow governments to sell public land to giant corporations, so they can profit on the destruction and exploitation of natural resources and vital forested areas? The answer is; the world we live in. All over the world, profit hungry companies have engaged in aggressive and destructive practices that disrupt natural ecological processes. Human economies are often dependent upon the extraction, processing, and sale of those natural resources. Often, those whom profit from such actions fail to account for the damage upon habitats, and the wildlife contained within.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cutting down forests or also known as deforestation is one of the biggest aspects to climate change. Forests are essential for life as it is home to numerous species, make oxygen,…

    • 448 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Causes Of Land Desertification

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    In this way, the biodiversity is also decreasing. Besides, many or even uncountable number of trees were cut down, the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide will be broken. Thus, deforestation is aggravated global warming further. More problems will appear if we do not stipulate a limitation for deforestation, and the problems we already have that will be worse than before. Do you want to see no green and all land is desert in the future?…

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Tropical Rainforest Cancer

    • 1433 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Imagine a cure for cancer was lost by the time you finished reading this. It’s really not that crazy to think about, if you knew the effects of tropical deforestation. People have found so many cures for so many different diseases and illnesses in all parts of the Rainforest. And lots of people believe that there is a cure for even cancer out there.…

    • 1433 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Deforestation In Canada

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Also The reduction of our forests greatly decreases the amount of carbon dioxide taken out from our atmosphere, increasing the overall greenhouse gasses and heating up our planet.("Civic Issues." Civic Issues. N.p., Mar. 2013. Web. 15 June 2016.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We need to stop deforestation before it’s too late. “Rainforests contain about 50% of the world's wildlife population which is about 50,000 species”, and about 100 species from the rainforest are killed each day due to…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Amazon Rainforest

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Amazon Rainforest covers approximately 2,650,000 square miles of land in South America, more than one third of the entire continent. It is full of natural resources, such as fruits, vegetables, pharmaceuticals derived from plants, oils used for perfumes and detergents, and woods. Comprised of the largest collection of living plant and animal species in the world, this rainforest is also home to hundreds of indigenous tribes, each with their own language, culture, and territory(USA TODAY, 2012). The Amazon has given the world so much, and in return we have destroyed more than 20 percent of this rainforest, by clearing the trees for logging operations, mining operations, farming, and much more. This not only threatens the lives and future…

    • 1851 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When we look into deforestation, There are people who could care less about the animals and creatures living inside it. With each tree cut down is equal to that if we were to kick an innocent family out of their homes. As we chop more trees for our production, we cause more pain to our own environment. The wood we burn releases toxins into the air that pollutes and destroys the ozone layer. As unfortunate as it is, Some Humans, Just don't care about other lives in the world, where they believe that they can cut down all the trees and nothing will happen…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Earth is currently facing detrimental environmental issues. These issues have been evident for decades; however, many people have continuously denied them to be problematic or even their existence entirely. While these critics have managed to get away with the rejection of these problems for many years, it is no longer deniable that the issue of environmental degradation is very real and in need of immediate action. Much of the population has come to understand this, and have executed a variety of modest attempts to increase environmental sustainability. However, these efforts have demonstrated to be of minimal effect in solving the large-scale issues directly causing the degradation.…

    • 1550 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Burroughs tropical deforestation increased from 11.8 million per year in the 1970’s to 15.4 million in 1980s (pg. 98). Deforestation and forest degradation is a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Forests have a vital role to play in the fight against global warming. Forests and it soil can help absorb and store carbon dioxide and harmful gasses, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and release oxygen (Schimel p.135), but if forests are cleared or disturbed we will lose out on the benefits of having tons of tress. Trees can converse water to air vapor which help reduce heat.…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Humans have many various jobs from deforestation, and humans need more jobs available to them due to globalization. Globalization is causing humans to participate in deforestation to build things such as houses, roadways, farmlands, and more. Humans do not realize that they need trees to protect them from many things. Without trees human nature will be in crisis because they bring so many benefits to humans, trees help stop greenhouse…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Areas that have been effected by overconsumption and the conflict this has on nature and society The natural world has fallen victim to the anthropocentric ideal of evolution as the natural world has been overconsumed by society in order for global development. Cronon (1995) states that natures worth is measured and judged by civilisation, claiming that society produces a dualistic world of humans and nature being placed at opposite ends of the spectrum. This ideal is ironic seeing as development cannot be achieved without nature, and nature cannot be sustained and conserved without the protection of society. Cronon (1995) displays the false truths of society as we live in an urbanized world although beliefs are held that our natural home…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Our Effect on Earth and Effects of Global Warming Due to Deforestation Deforestation is one of the main causes of CO2 emissions in the world. The tearing down of trees and forests are leaving a lasting effect on our earth and the atmosphere. Deforestation is tearing down trees and lumber from the forest, whether this is done legally or illegally, this practice is a very controversial one. The process of logging begins with cutting down the trees needed to cut into logs. These trees are then loaded onto a truck and transported to a location to be cut into logs.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    This issue often goes unnoticed because humans are so caught up in their everyday lives. Many people support only what is best for humans in their lifetime and don’t look at the bigger picture. People fail to consider how their actions affect not only plants and animals in their ecosystem, but future generations as well. Throughout the years we have harmed and destroyed forest ecosystems and everything that lives in them, so it is only fair that we do everything we can to help limit the amount of damage we deal to our forests and wildlife. Deforestation has been around since…

    • 1292 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays