Deforestation: A Dreadful Crime

By Sathvikh Sudhakar

Imagine living in a world full of toxic gasses with the least amount of oxygen to breathe which can kill every human and animal! Would you like that? This is caused by deforestation! Before digging deep into what deforestation is and about it, I would like to share a small story to help build some knowledge. 

In a valley there was a small river and a huge, thick, healthy forest which was densely packed with fresh trees. The weather was pleasant, and one would enjoy the winter snow on the mountains. When anyone steps into the forest, a calm, steady breeze will greet you, with sounds of splashing water, chirping birds, and fierce roars of lions. All the animals, birds, and insects were cheerful as they had abundant water, food, and fresh air. 

One day, the living beings in the forest heard a deafening noise. Out of terror, fright, and panic they hid themselves. When they thought they were safe, the animals noticed a bit of their habitat of trees cut down! This same procedure of the shrinking of their forest continued repeatedly over and over again, for weeks, then months, which turned into years together. As the years passed by, the animals had no resources and shelter and only a bit of their forest to live in. As a result, many habitants of that forest lost their homes, increased greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, and soil erosion which led to floods.

Few years later, there was a huge drought. No water was left, nor was there any food. So, to survive, most animals went to the nearby cities to eat and drink. People were scared of animals, and animals were scared of people. For this reason, both of the species started to fight each other, killing everyone there! The animals who stayed back in the forest were eagerly waiting for their friends in town to come back. But nobody returned. 

The same winter, the snow on the mountains started to melt. It turned into a landslide washing everything on its way. Many animals, trees, and people died. Such a heartbreaking ending!

I am pretty sure you would love to learn what caused this disaster to see if you could help, right? Let me clear your doubts. Deforestation is the culprit here. Do you know what it means?  The prefix de- means "remove" and the suffix -ation means a state of act. Simply, deforestation basically means removing trees. Can you believe that just this small action causes so much damage? Let me explain. 

We inhale oxygen (O2), and exhale carbon dioxide (CO2). Pollution increases CO2, and this toxic gas needs to be removed out of the atmosphere. In order to achieve this, the trees get into action. Trees breathe in CO2 and breathe out O2. With this, we can understand that the breathing patterns of plants are the opposite of us humans and animals. This is as when trees are cut down, the toxic gas remains in the air, heating up the world. This is what we call global warming. Global warming causes droughts. But how? To learn how it happens, first you need to understand what the water cycle is.

First step of the water cycle is when water droplets rain down onto the surface. Rain is otherwise called Precipitation, the first part of the cycle. Then, rivers rise when the droplets gather in the river. This makes rivers flow non stop. Water also accumulates in soil. This part of this process is called Collection. Next, the rainwater evaporates so rain will not increase the amount of water in the world. This is called Evaporation. After that, the water that vaporized gets stored into the clouds where the temperature is cool. The cool temperature converts the vapor into water droplets which turn the color of the clouds to gray. Then, the clouds move to another location and rain starts the process again. This last part is called Condensation.

So, when deforestation increases the temperature of the whole world overloading global warming, how will the vapor that gets evaporated cool down? If it does not, how will they turn into droplets when the temperature is hot? With this reason, the amount of precipitation decreases, making droughts. 

Deforestation does not only cause droughts, but floods too! Did you know that trees help the soil stay binded? You may wonder what is the use of binded soil, right? When soil gets loose, it slowly loses its capability to collect water and is slowly sedimented in rivers (blocking its path), leading to its flooding. This is what we call soil erosion. So this causes the water to be above soil which we call floods.

Now don’t be shocked to know the amount of deforestation happening per year! 18.7 million acres is how many forests and jungles we lose every annual. Equivalent to the area of 27 soccer fields being cleared in a minute! This huge rate of deforestation increased the world’s temperature by 0.07o centigrade from 1880 to 1980. From 1980 onwards, the temperature increased by 2 times, 0.14o centigrade per decade! Because of this, it causes the ice of Antarctica and most icebergs to melt which increases the sea level. Too much rise of the sea can make our land to sink in the water when the oceans occupy the land’s space! Do you want to lose your home and country?

Now don’t you think we need to stop deforestation? Let us prevent deforestation by:

1. Stop cutting down trees

2. We also can reuse wood and wooden furniture or recycle them, too.

3. Use paper wisely as paper is made from wood. 

4. Spread awareness about deforestation so others can also help the world  to stop this disaster. 

5. Plant as many trees as possible. You can grow them at your house so you can get more oxygen

The COVID pandemic proved that animals are happy without us interfering in their lives. We have enough space to live, so let us do reforestation to give animals back their homes! The prefix re- means "again" and the suffix -ation means a state of act. So let us share this green world with trees and animals and live in a healthy, happy, and the best planet! Thank you for reading!

By Sathvikh Sudhakar