Where is deforestation?

EVERYWHERE!!! Deforestation takes place in every country on the earth, whether it be so minimal that it goes unnoticed, or so massive that it makes even the most stoic man cringe, it does happen everywhere. Click on the title of this little bit and you will be taken to a site filled with statistics on global deforestation.

Bibliography

Collins, Jocelyn. "Deforestation." UWC EnviroFacts IndexPage. 1 Feb. 20001. 28 Apr. 2009 http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/Envfacts/facts/deforestation.htm.
Dickinson, Emily. “Who Robbed the Woods?” The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Boston: Little, Brown, 1924; Bartleby.com, 2000. http://www.bartleby.com/113/.
Fiset, Nathalie. "Harmful Effects of Deforestation." Article Base: Free ONline Articles Directory. 13 Apr. 2007. 28 Apr. 2009 http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/harmful-effects-of-deforestation-131219.html.
"Five Tips For Preventing Deforestation." EDU.UDYM.com Education Articles. 14 Aug. 2008. 28 Apr. 2009 http://edu.udym.com/five-tips-for-preventing-deforestation/.
"The History of Deforestation." EDU.UDYM.com Education Articles. 17 Aug. 2008. 28 Apr. 2009 http://edu.udym.com/the-history-of-deforestation/.
Stock, Jocelyn, and Andy Rochen. "The Choice: Doomsday or Arbor Day." Deforestation. 28 Apr. 2009 http://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/deforestation. htm.
"What is Deforestation?" EDU.UDYM.com Education Articles. 27 Aug. 2008. 28 Apr. 2009 http://edu.udym.com/what-is-deforestation/.

Emily Dickinson

Who robbed the woods
The trusting woods?
The unsuspecting trees
Brought out their burrs and mosses
His fantasy to please.
He scanned their trinkets, curious,
He grasped, he bore away.
What will the solemn hemlock,
What will the fir-tree say?

How can we stop deforestation without risking our economy further?

All you need to do is evolve the industry so that other items are used to produce wood-based products. For instance, you can make paper out of hemp or taro roots, which would create jobs for cultivators and would have a lesser impact on the earth than using trees. You can also use brick and stone in construction instead of wood. While stones and bricks are heavier, they also last longer and are sturdier that wood. While it would be necessary to use wood for floors and ceilings the housing projects would not be so different from the ones going on today. Our way of doing things would not change much, it would just become more tree-friendly.

Are there benefits to deforestation?

Of course there are benefits! The easiest benefits to see are the economic ones. Even the black market gets plenty of business from deforestation. Deforestation has created millions of jobs over the years in construction, manufacturing furniture and dishes, cattle farming and even glue making (from tree sap). Lumber is one the most used products throughout the world, so it's certainly a market that people want to be a part of.

Why is it an issue?

• Deforestation releases carbon into the atmosphere, creating a "Greenhouse" effect by trapping heat and causing climate changes - trees cool and regulate earth's climate while they're here
• It creates increased water runoff, which leads to the increased silting of rivers, lakes,and oceans
• Trees improve air quality for breathing, without them the air we breathe would eventually have the same effect as putting diesel into a car that doesn't run on diesel...we would die
• Trees also determine rainfall through transpiration
• Trees are also good for “…preventing erosion, landslides, and making the most infertile soil rich with life” (Stock & Rochen), which is hard for the tree to do when it is lying dead on the ground.
• Deforestation also contributes to the “…loss of biodiversity...the destruction of forest-based-societies...” (Stock and Rochen).
• Deforestation is also an issue because of the bad techniques used to perform the dirty deed. Slash-and-Burn is perhaps the worst technique for removing forests because it not only destroys the trees and allows for no productive use of them, but it also destroys the soil by robbing it of its nutrients so that the land is useless except for, perhaps, housing developments or factories.

What is it?

Deforestation, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a verb meaning, "To reduce from the legal position of forest to that of ordinary land; to make no longer a forest". Basically it just means cutting down trees for farmland, building materials and grazing areas for animals.