Deforestation is just a bunch of trees burned down. Why should I care? What does that have to do with commercial power generation. Or residential power generation? Or my being able to drive down the highway whenever I darn well please?
Yes, deforestation is just a bunch of trees, along with all the brush that comes with a self-sustaining forest. And yes, it really does matter. Let's talk about it a little.
Deforestation does refer to the destruction (often by fire) of forests and it is deforestation that matters when it is primarily due to our human activities. Activities such as logging, what is called "slash and burn" agriculture, urban sprawl, residential and commercial development, economic activity will reduce the size of the forests. It comes about when people expand their activities, as in mining operation, petroleum drilling (whether exploratory or production), building dams, and any other type of human population expansion program.
Many of us go camping out in the wilderness and sometimes use scattered dead wood to burn as fuel for food and warmth. This is not deforestation. When you cut the trees down and remove them because they are in the way of your program of expansion and you do it over large areas, that is deforestation.
Another way of deforestation is through uncontroled logging, and I realize that many good, hard working people use the logging industry to take care of their families. I read recently about thirty-two million acres (a great deal of it illegal) of forest disappears each year. This according to the Nature Conservancy.
I am not suggesting that all deforestation is even intentional. Some is driven by human interests combined with natural processes. Recently a out-of-control wildfire burned a large section of forest not too far from where I live. It happens and it is not always intentional. Forests are a blessing to us where I live. They should never be taken for granted. (Keep in mind that forest fire is also a natural part of any forest's lifecycle and the overgrazing by our livestock that occurs after a fire can prevent the growth of new trees. So it happens on all levels.)
We all know that about thirty percent of the earth's surface is covered with forest. I recently read that of that surface area, an area about the size of the state of Nebraska is cleared for agriculture purposes each and every year.
That is a lot of area, and of that, about 23,000 square miles are "primary forest." "Primary forest" is defined as: "native species where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and where the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed."
There are other programs called "reforestation programs." This is defined as: "The reestablishment of forest cover either naturally or artificially." This from McGraw-Hill Science and Technology Encyclopedia.
OK, you're probably thinking, so what? Why is that a big deal? Well, for one thing, it is estimated that about eighty percent of all species on Earth, and here we are counting species not even discovered yet, live in tropical rainforests.
Deforestation down in those regions tends to wipe out critical habitat. Deforestation tends to disrupt ecosystems and leads to the extinction of certain species, including species which are irreplaceable. Species that could be used to make medicine essential for effective treatments of devastating diseases.
Deforestation also contributes to global climate change. Studies have shown that tropical deforestation accounts for about twenty percent of all greenhouse gasses. The people doing this are not bad people. They are just trying to take care of their families just like you do. And they feel they receive significant immediate short term benefits from these activities. The problem is that these short term gains cannot, and will not, offset the long term negative losses. Economic losses.
You want to know why you should care about this? Look at the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Bonn, Germany in 2008. Scientists there along with economists and other experts came to the conclusion that deforestation and damage to the environments systems of the world could cut the living standards for the world's poor people by half. Also, they concluded that this could reduce the gross domestic product (GDP) globally by about seven percent. That's globally, not just in some area far away from you.
If you carefully consider this and come to the conclusion that this will have no effect on you, you're just not paying attention to the long term and you are not thinking this through. The economic problems of the looming energy transition are coming and they won't be pretty.
You might think you can just ignore the rest and keep on keeping on but it won't work. Many of us can see what is coming and know what energy salvation is. It is when our families have energy to be mobile as well as to be warm and comfortable.
If you expect energy salvation to come from our blessed government, lots of luck. We are seeing to our families now.
The rest of you don't believe. Great.
Hide and watch.
Jimmy writes a home power generation review web site. He is interested in what works and what scams are out there. Write him with your thoughts and observations at: greenjim@juno.com See his review web site at: http://homepowergeneration.info Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=J_Cosmos |
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