Save the Rainforests
An in-depth analysis on the cause and effects of global warming and deforestation
An in-depth analysis on the cause and effects of global warming and deforestation
Trees are essential in fighting climate change as they reduce greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere by the world. One of the most important forests we have is the Amazon Rainforest. Over 3 million species live in the rainforest, and over 2,500 tree species (or one-third of all tropical trees that exist on earth) help to create and sustain this vibrant ecosystem. Unfortunately, things like cattle ranching, agriculture, logging, mining, and fires all contribute to widespread deforestation in the Amazon and around the globe. In this exploratory article, we’ll look take a closer look at the role deforestation plays in climate change and ways we can help prevent it.
Trees are a major factor in limiting the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere. This is important because large amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere create an insulating layer that traps heat and leads to global warming. Ever since the Industrial Revolution beginning in the mid 1700s, CO2 emissions have been rapidly increasing due to a rise in mass manufacturing, agriculture, and burning of fossil fuels.
Below is a graph showing CO2 emissions of the top fifteen contributing countries from 1985 to 2014. If anything will be done in the near future to combat climate change, these countries are the major players and must be held accountable in reducing their emissions. Hover over an area on the graph to see more details.
As a result of increasing levels of CO2 emissions, we've seen an overall rise in mean surface temperature around the globe. Below is a graph showing changes in mean surface temperature from 1995 to 2019. Blue colors indicate a drop in mean temperature from the previous year and red indicates an increase. Use the slider to see the changes from throughout the year range.
The chart below shows the temperature anomalies of the 10 warmest years since 1880. In other words, this shows the temperature differnce (in Fahrenheit) between a year's average temperature and the historic average. Not surprisingly, the ten warmest years on record over this period have occured within the last 11 years.
One area of some uncertainty with respect to climate change is precipitation. As opposed to temperature, where scientists tend to agree on the future outlook of global temperatures and how Earth will warm in years to come, precipitation is much more unclear. This is mostly due to the complexity of weather patterns and the many factors that dictate them. One of the things that scientists due currently seem to agree on is that global warming will, in general, cause drier areas to become more dry and wetter areas to become more wet. In addition, climate change experts predict that intensity of precipitation will increase as the plantet heats up. Some predictions suggest that by 2100, there will be a 16-24% increase in heavy precipitation intensity. In order to try to see any patterns, we can examine the levels of precipitation in the US over the last 100 years.
During photosynthesis, the leaves on trees convert carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight into the chemical compounds that trees need to survive and grow. As a result of this process, oxygen is released. This is beneficial for humans since it both cleans the air by removing CO2 and provides us with oxygen to breath.
Another benefit of trees is that they filter our water. Over half of the water supply in the US is stored and filtered by trees. As rainfall occurs, trees absorb the water through roots and remove pollutants and sediments. Then, this clean water is slowly released back into waterways in our ecosystems like streams, rivers, and underground aquifers before eventually making its way to our everyday water supplies.
Water falls from the sky being absorbed by the leaves and tree roots and is then distributed through the soil.
Water moves over land, cleaning it of pollutants so it arrives at our lakes, rivers and streams in a better condition.
With cleaner lakes and rivers, water processing plants require less work and is easier and cheaper to treat before it arrives in your tap.
One major benefit of trees that is often overlooked is how they provide a home and shelter for many organisms. Without trees, ecosystems would crumble as many creatures big and small would be without a live.
Unfortunately, many aspects of our lives today involve using products that come as a result of deforestation. Things like ranching, agriculture, logging, and mining all require either resources from trees or open land devoid of trees. This has resulted in mass deforestation across the globe, esepecially in the Amazon Rainforest. Below is a bar graph outlining the area of the Amazon deforested since 2010, organized based on Brazillian state. It's clear that the rate of deforestation is not slowing and that intervention must occur soon before irreversible damage is done to the forest and the world.
Use the slider below to see the how the size of the Brazilian Amazon has dwindled since 1990:
In addition to the adverse effects that deforestation has on fighting climate change, it also greatly affects the populations of many organisms. The graphic below shows the number of mammalian species that have been identified as at some level of threat of extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Of the 5850 species evaulated, 679 are considered endangered or critically endangered.
1 Square represents 1% of the total number mammal species
We can see that over twenty percent of the mammal species is endangered or vulnerable to extinction. By helping the earth we can help these species survive. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Eum, consectetur! Quas, vero enim omnis aliquid nemo, sunt mollitia totam inventore, doloribus ipsum unde esse laborum dicta. Aut nobis sint pariatur.
Do you leave the bathroom water running while you brush your teeth or lather up your hands while washing them?
If so, you are wasting about 2.5 gallons of water per minute. If you brush your teeth for the recommended 2 minutes and twice per day, you waste 5 gallons of water each brushing for a total of 10 gallons of wasted water.
The early morning hours are normally the coolest temperatures of the day. This means you’ll cut down on water lost to evaporation as you water your garden plants.
In particular, beef and lamb emit huge quantities of methane gas, and producing the farmland to feed them can have its own negative environmental impact. Simply cutting beef out of your diet can cut 20% out of your carbon emissions. Just by reducing your beef and lamb consumption, you can reduce your carbon footprint by a lot.
Instead of going to big box and chain grocery stores, support your local farmers, and buy your fruit and veggies at the farmers market. They often use healthier and more organic practices that are better on the environment, and it means less travel, and less time in your car, too.
Keeping these smaller companies open at the expense of less-environmentally-friendly options can do more to sway a company toward environmentally-friendly practices than any personal initiative of your own.