Topic: Deforestation
Deforestation involves the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. Much of the deforestation that is going on today is in vast areas of Africa, Latin America, and southeast Asia.This means that deforestation includes the destruction of forests, in which the treetops touch each other to form a canopy, as well as woodlands, in which trees are spaced further apart. The term deforestation does not apply to the removal of trees from plantations or industrial forests.Human beings have always cut down trees. Wood has historically been the most dominant form of heating fuel, as well as one of the most often used building materials for houses and ships. Twenty-five percent of the world's lumber harvest now goes towards paper production (Bryant).No one can deny the basic human need for housing. And no one can deny that any advanced culture requires a great deal of paper to transact its daily business. However, one must also recognize the importance of forests in and of themselves.Forests are important for several reasons. First of all, many would espouse the opinion that they should be preserved for future generations to enjoy. Certainly, the family camping trip is a true hallmark of American culture. Second of all, they provide habitat for many important species. Old growth forest in the northwestern United States is the only suitable habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl, for example. Tropical forests compose only 7% of the earth's land surface, but are home to more than half of the species on earth! (Bryant). Thirdly, forests perform important ecological functions. As aggregates of plant matter, forests do a great deal of oxygen production and help prevent excessive global warming. Additionally, forests tend to help replenish nutrients in land and thus prevent desertification. Lastly, and perhaps most obviously, we need to have forests since we rely on them as a source of timber! If we exhaust our supply of forests, we'll no longer be able to continue using them as the source of our building materials, heating fuel, and paper.Nevertheless, deforestation is a very big and important environmental problem which is yet to be effectively addressed. According to Norman Myer, who published a book on the subject in 1979, the main causes of deforestation are excessive logging, slash and burn agriculture, cattle raising and harvesting for fuel. http://www.globaled.org/issues/152/a.html
What is Deforestation Deforestation is defined as the destruction of forested land. It has proved to be a major problem all over world. However, the rates of destruction of forests are particularly high in the tropics.
Causes of Deforestation The causes of deforestation vary form place to place. The most common causes, however, are logging, agricultural expansion, wars, and mining,
Effects of Deforestation Deforestation has been the cause of many problems facing the world today such as erosions, loss of biodiversity through extinction of plant and animal species, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Importnace of Vegetation Deforestation consequently decrease the supply of oxygen found on earth. Oxygen is essential to the existence of all living things and without it every living creature (including humans) will not be able to sustain life. In addition, forests provide homes for many important species such as the Northern Spotted Owl which can only survive in the northwestern United States . Furthermore, forests prevent desertification by replenishing nutrients in the land. These are just a few reasons why forests are soon important. http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC052139/Deforestation.htm
book: Tropical deforestation A socio-economic Approach by CJ Jepma http://books.google.com.my/books?id=r-Za9c-NIFIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=deforestation&sig=ACfU3U3NITBO2Kv53ZSJnwT0CcYN31BdMQ#PPR10,M1
Since I focusing on the positive side of the issue, I did a research on saving the trees and decreasing the rate of deforestation.
Saving the Trees
Trees clean the air. Tree foliage works as a natural air filter of particulate matter such as dust, micro sized metals and pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and sulfur dioxides. Trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Combined with the cooling effect of trees, these processes can have a significant impact on reducing smog and overall air pollution.
Trees improve water quality. A healthy urban forest can have a strong influence on our region’s water quality. Tree canopies and root systems slow and reduce storm water runoff, flooding and erosion. Trees also help filter water runoff reducing potential sources of water pollution into our rivers and storm drains.Trees save energy. Trees cool the air naturally in two ways: through water evaporating from the leaves and direct shade. Homes shaded by trees need less energy for cooling which means lower monthly utility bills in summer and a reduced need for utilities to increase power generation to meet peak load demand.
Trees help stop inner city violence. A scientific study by the Human-Environment Research Lab has demonstrated that contact with nature may actually help reduce the incidence of aggression and violence in inner-city neighborhoods. According to this study, levels of aggression were significantly lower among people who had some kind of nature outside of their apartments versus those who didn't. The impact of the physical environment on human aggression has been well-established - crowding, high temperatures, and noise have all been linked to violent behavior. Some scientists believe that it's because people living under these conditions suffer from something called chronic mental fatigue, which can make them inattentive, irritable, and impulsive - all of which can be linked to aggressive behavior. Exposure to green spaces, it has been shown, can mitigate the harmful effects of chronic mental fatigue, reducing aggressive behavior in the process.
Images regarding to why to save trees
For this assignment I want to continue on experimenting with the pen tool and also the filter tool, in order to make my composition more interesting and realistic. My composition is view of nature with trees, hills, and a sunny sky, which is going to be done in pen tool and maybe the effects are going to be done with filter tool.
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