Proposal
It’s all over the news now; Global warming is here and it’s affecting us greatly. Global warming in itself brings great controversry debating on wether or not we’re the cause of it. I personally believe there are many parts to global warming and there isn’t one simple thing that caused it either. Global warming is said to be the primary cause of the drought we are currently facing today and probably the cause of the drought Brazil is facing with as well.
My blog, however, will not revolve around global warming but, it will include one possible causes for it. I will be discussing deforestation in Brazil. Now you’re probably wondering how deforestation in Brazil has anything to do with global warming. But before I get ahead of myself my blog posts will concentrate on the effects of deforestation in Brazil, more specifically the effects of soybean and pasture cropland expansion and how it effects not only Brazil but worldwide.
Brazil holds one third of the world’s rainforests, holding around 56,000 species of plants, 17,000 species of birds, 695 amphibians, 578 mammals, and 651 reptiles. One and a half acres of rainforest are being clear per second. Let that sink in. That’s approximately 3,600 acres per hour. An average of 35 species become extinct every day in the world’s tropical rainforests. But is deforestation the real cause of extinction? I mean extinction of all kinds of animals has always been around. It has always occured. What we overlook is the fact that the animals are key to the Amazon and it’s functions. We need the animals as much as we need the Amazon and we can’t have one without the other. However there are people out there saying that stopping deforestation wouldn’t help save animals. According to a new study, an animal who loses its habitat doesn’t instantly become extinct but instead slowly starts dying off which would eventually lead to extinction. I am assuming their way of thinking is animals have always slowly become extinct and no matter what we do the animals will die off. We might as well continue to cut trees down to grow some pasture and raise cattle or maybe plant soybeans.
In the past drought was seen to be a natural disaster beyond our control; However, studies have been conducted recently which shows how simply by cutting down trees can cause the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Not only is deforestation in the Amazon causing the increase of carbon dioxide into the atmospher but releasing less water vapor. With less water vapor in the atmosphere rainfall patterns get ditrupted which can ultimately lead to a drought. But is deforestation really the core cause or simple one of the causes for this drought we’ve been having? There are some people who believe the climate change is responsible for this drought and that deforestation has nothing to do with it. Others say the drought has to do with global warming. Global warming is something natural that occurs every some millions of years. Since the world is becoming much warmer it is“ natural” for us to start to get less rain. Ignoring the fact that the trees actually help the rainfall patterns is not ok. Yes, maybe climate change and the tempurates all around the world increasing can have something to do with the drought in Brazil but so does deforestation.
These are some of the main problems due to the deforestation occuring in Brazil. We like to justify deforestation by saying that it will help feed more people. Whats the real reason behind deforestation? Is it all for money? Are people really oblivious to this issue? Why aren’t animals taken into consideration? Should we save the forest or the hungry people?
Looking at both sides makes me question though. We are put in this sort of stalemate where we must chose whats more important; Humans and their need for food or mother nature and the health of this planet.