Blog 4 : deforestation - Yenne Schepers

 The definition of deforestation, the causes, the effects, and what we can do about it

Deforestation means that forests are decreasing across the world thanks to a lot of causes. The most known cause is agriculture: we need space to grow our food, fibers, and biofuel and we also use this space for livestock. Another cause is the increase in construction. Since our population keeps increasing, we need this space to build our houses and fabrics to be able to live there. 

Deforestation not only affects biodiversity because we literally take away the homes of certain animal species, but also affects local people and their livelihoods. By using their space they have to migrate to bigger cities where they will most likely be poor or they have to work for the people who destroyed their land. Another bad effect is that deforestation weakens the degradation of the soil, which leads to the insecurity in making food. As of last, the most known effect is that without trees, there will be a huge increase in carbon dioxide which makes it harder for us to breathe clearly. 

This article doesn’t only give us information about the effects and the locations of deforestation, it also provides us tips to do stop it. For example, if we start with eating less meat, we don’t have to use so much farmland for the animals and this way, we don’t have to cut as many trees anymore.

I found the tips in the article very helpful and I am going to try to follow them from now on. I really think that we can make a change but we ALL have to participate in this plan. We need trees in our lives, we need to stop being selfish, and think about others.