Deforestation: Destroying the Amazon is Destroying the Atmosphere

source

The World Cup isn’t the only event causing controversy in Brazil right now; deforestation of the Amazon is threatening our very existence. The Amazon rainforest is being cleared at an alarming pace to make room for more profitable land use (like the World Cup). In exchange we are throwing the earth’s atmosphere even more off-balance.

Scientific consensus is that human made carbon dioxide emissions are causing global climate change, but the impact of the destruction of the rainforest is often overlooked as another major cause. The fact is that deforestation actually contributes more to global warming than fuel emissions every year, and the combination of the two is perpetuating the greenhouse effect.

Why does destroying trees contribute to global warming?

Every year 32 million acres of the rainforest is cut down. The result of this is an added 200 billion tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO­₂) is a greenhouse gas, and man-made CO­₂ has been shown to cause the temperature of our atmosphere to rise. The evidence for this and future predictions are outlined in my post on climate change.

The rainforest acts as “the earth’s lungs” by regulating the balance between CO₂ and oxygen in the atmosphere. The health of the rainforest is vital to our health, more now than ever because of the increase in man-made CO₂ generation. Trees and other plants convert CO₂ to oxygen through photosynthesis. Trees, especially large ones, carry out this process to balance the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. If we cut down all of the trees in the rainforest and increase the amount of fossil fuels we’re burning… well let’s just say we may all suffocate.

source

When trees are killed, they not only stop producing oxygen from CO₂, they release large amounts of greenhouse gases.  All of the CO₂ that was stored in the 32 million acres of trees when they were alive is released into the atmosphere when they are killed, either through decay or through burning. Have you ever seen a steaming pile of mulch? That “steam” is greenhouse gases, mostly methane, being released during the decay process.

Not only are massacring trees bad for the environment, it kills biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of plants and animals in certain regions. By killing the forests, we are destroying the homes of many of our cute and exotic animal friends. I encourage you to watch the Amazon episode of The Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth to know just what kind of awesome diversity we are talking about here.

Biodiversity is important for keeping the web of life intact. Every species of plant and animal has a place on the food chain and in the circle of life.  This is important to all other species on earth, including us.  A famous Harvard biologist, Edward O. Wilson once said “It is reckless to suppose that biodiversity can be diminished indefinitely without threatening humanity itself.”

So, then why are the poor trees being killed?

At the rate that the earth’s forests are disappearing, in 100 years we may have none. They are often cut down for agriculture. Trees are replaced with crops and grazing cattle (and billion dollar football/soccer stadiums), which provides money for families but does not convert CO₂ to oxygen.

Logging is another major destructor of the rainforest.  Logging is primarily done to provide paper and wood products. Just look around, how much of what you use and where you live has paper or wood products contained in it? All of them were once carbon dioxide regulators.

source

Are we all doomed, or is somebody doing something about this?

Good news, this is a problem that many are aware of and there are programs to help Brazil slow the destruction. The UN has a program called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). REDD provides incentives for economic and sustainable forest management.

REDD uses a carbon credit system to make it more profitable to keep the rainforest intact than to use its land for growing coffee and raising cattle farms for beef and milk. Those in the REDD program receive carbon credits to sell by reducing deforestation to an established baseline.

REDD has slowed deforestation by 40% since 2008 and is on track to slow it by 80% in 2020. However, for us to slow the influence on global warming, we will need to replenish some of what we have destroyed. Also, maybe build the next World Cup stadium somewhere that doesn’t require the destruction of our precious rainforest. Who wants to play soccer in the middle of the hot, steamy, jungle anyway? And hey, maybe I’ve been too hard on the World Cup, it has actually been used to raise more awareness on the issue. So, here’s to continued efforts to reverse deforestation, responsible building, and an exciting World Cup tournament (Go USA)!

Thanks for reading, and cheers to your brain!

Like my Facebook page to stay up to date on weekly blog posts and other science findings!