Who Cares about Trees?

Who really does care about trees? The answer is everyone should. Deforestation is an emerging environmental problem regarding forest depletion and clearing. It is commonly used-and abused-by radical environmentalists groups as a scapegoat for attacks on capitalism and big business-most notably by "Greenpeace." These groups seem to do the issue to death by using trivial, low-tech and unrelenting ways of interfering with business, thereby destroying credibility for the issue. However, this is a serious problem and must be addressed. We as a society should not, and cannot accept deforestation of tropical rainforests.

Globally, 40,000 square kilometers are deforested each year, roughly the size of Switzerland (Rampant Logging). Deforestation and global warming seem incomparable, but the forests are a large consumer of Carbon Dioxide, the number one greenhouse gas, therefore, the comparison is warranted and a direct relationship can be established. "Not only is global warming real, according to the report, but its consequences-heat waves, water shortages, rising sea levels, loss of beaches and marshes, more frequent and violent weather-will be punishing for Americans," boasts one report on global warming appearing in Nation (Hertsgaar

*This essay was written for a general audience of

There is light at the end of the tunnel. However, that light is more of a candle; the longer we take to reach it, the dimmer it gets. We must act quickly to preserve as much of our forests as possible. Thousands, if not millions of plants, animals and even people depend on our expedience. Signing and upholding the Kyoto Protocol would be a start.

Developers like to say that expansion is needed, and that the forests are not performing a useful function, thus using that to justify clearing the forests. Possibly the oceans are not needed as well? Oh, that God-forsaken swamp-land, the zoos, and the wildlife refuges, we need none of these either. The latter was challenged by Republicans in the Senate during the early part of 2002; the issue was oil drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), located in Alaska (Lee).

Want to see a Siberian tiger or a Philippine eagle? Better do it quick. By 2032, they-and a quarter of the world's 4,520 species of mammals and one in eight bird species-will be extinct, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme. Blame human settlement and industrial development, which have destroyed the forests and wetlands that are home to most of our endangered beasts. (Fragala)

Global warming has to be the biggest reason that we have to curb deforestation. As aforementioned, r