Notice that iwuv's typical argument is more emotional than logical. "Poor tree versus that mean old soy." What sense does that make?
Yes there are many trees in the US which are cut down in forestry. However, for everyone of those trees cut down, at least three are planted. Otherwise the companies that cut down trees would be out of business in a few years. That would not be smart. So a good company would replant trees just like a farmer cuts down corn and replants it the next year. That is life. Corn has an annual yield but trees have a longer yield.
As to the argument, "Growing tobacco affects the soil, as it uses soil nutrients faster than many other crops. In order to maintain soil fertility these nutrients need to be replaced with fertilizers. Many farmers in poorer countries can not afford to buy fertilizers so often tobacco is grown until the soil is no longer fertile." That is total rubbish. I live in Kentucky, USA. There are several tobacco fields within a mile of my residence. One of these tobacco farms is on an original French land grant of 200 acres. That predates our Constitution. Tobacco has been grown on that land since that time without any fertilizer, without any depreciation. Just so you know, I don't smoke, never did, so I don't have an ax to grind on that subject.
There have been times when there has been abuse in forestry, but at one time or another there has been abuse of everything. Man tends to abuse anything good. Sex, drugs, food, alcohol and we could go on and on. However, you can't outlaw food just because a number of people abuse it. Iwuv is abusing your senses by not telling you the whole truth. Your teacher is probably abusing you in the same way by putting forth propaganda. But that is Constitutionally protected in the US. So this is not a perfect world, what else is new?
So to put it shortly and bluntly. Those who scream bloody murder about the cutting down of a tree are going off the deep end. Are they going to take you with them?
Well lets start out with causes. There are MANY causes of deforestation. Urbanization, industrialized agriculture and more but industrialized agriculture to me is one of the biggest causes of deforestation. In South America almost 4 million hectares of forest are destroyed every year (2.6 million of them are in Brazil alone) and this is due to the growth of Soy (mainly because of heavily soy dependent livestock farming, basically all the soy crops grown are used to feed livestock) and that was just soy! There are other crops such as corn, wheat and more! Also in my opinion Cigarettes lead to deforestation as well, A cigarette-manufacturing machine uses 4 miles of paper per hour to roll and package cigarettes. So, in one 8 hour day, 32 miles of paper are used and in one 40-hour week, 160 miles of paper are used. The tobacco industry burns as much as one acre of forest for every acre of tobacco cured, using 12% of all the timber felled in the world. And on average, one tree is cut down for every 300 cigarettes (about a two-week supply for a pack-a-day smoker). Tobacco cultivation makes heavy use of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. These chemicals affect the environment and the tobacco workers. Tobacco is grown in many countries including Australia, however it is most often grown in poorer countries. Growing tobacco affects the soil, as it uses soil nutrients faster than many other crops. In order to maintain soil fertility these nutrients need to be replaced with fertilizers. Many farmers in poorer countries can not afford to buy fertilizers so often tobacco is grown until the soil is no longer fertile. Then new areas have to be found to grow these crops (often through deforestation). Tobacco is a plant that is also very susceptible to getting sick it requires heavy use of water.
No one benefits from deforestation, we may benefit for a little bit like the smokers get their fix for now, people have food. But what will happen when the forest are gone and the land has gone arid? No one will benefit. Also less tree's and plants producing oxygen, less oxygen.
There are many alternatives, will people choose them? Probably not, why? Because most times things are out of sight out of mind. People don't usually chose to do anything about something until that something smacks us in our faces. To solve the cigarette problem, people should quit smoking. No one smokes any more, there's no longer a need to grow tobacco since there are no health benefits of modern day tobacco. But again that will never happen. People love things that are bad for them; example, junk food, alcohol, etc.
There are many impacts of deforestation in the amazon you can lose of species. Healthy forests help absorb greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions that are caused by human civilization and contribute to global climate change. Without trees, more carbon and greenhouse gasses enter the atmosphere. To make matters worse, trees actually become carbon sources when they are cut, burned, or otherwise removed. “Tropical forests hold more than 210 gigatons of carbon, and deforestation represents around 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the WWF.
You really should do your research, you said you don't have time but there really is SOOOO much that interlinks with deforestation it can be a bit overwhelming. Here is a good link to check out and where I got my last source of info from.
300 cigarettes weighing about a pound leads to one tree being felled. Please. It just goes to show that AGW isn't the only place where ridiculous exaggeration takes place without any skepticism.
you are on a BS subject that was taken care of over 100 years ago
Please just answer as many of these as you can, I'm very passionate about deforestation but research is becoming time consuming and i have several other projects and an abundance of worksheets to complete before Friday at midnight. I've been in the hospital for the last two months and didn't have time or means to complete my homeschooling work so i need help completing an entire semester of work in Geography before Saturday. These are the questions:
What are the primary causes of deforestation?
What are the impacts of deforestation?
Who benefits? Who loses?
Do the benefits outweigh the costs?
Are there any alternatives to current practices?
Why does it matter?
