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Thanks to the depletion of trees in the Amazon Rainforest, the amount of carbon dioxide has increased because there are not enough trees to balance the oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. "According to the Worldwatch Institute, atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased 24% since 1860, and about half of that increase has occurred since 1958. If that rate rate continues, the planet could heat up by 1.5 C to 4.5 C by the year 2030" (Gallant). If the earth heats up, there will be more droughts in certain areas on Earth and there will be more floods in other parts of the Earth, which harms the agriculture of many lesser developed countries.
Also, "Trees determine rainfall and replenishes the Earth. As more water gets put back in the atmosphere, clouds form and provide another way to block out the sun's heat" (Stock/Rochen). The trees of the Amazon Rainforest help regulate the heat on Earth and if we continue the deforestation of the rainforest, the Earth will continue to heat up in an unnatural rate.
Thankfully, most of the countries in the world are trying to live up to the Catholic Teaching of Stewardship for the common good of mankind by setting up a convention in Copenhagen, where they will discuss about how the countries should deal with Climate change. This proves to be that globalization is helping the rainforest. With the help of REDD "or Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation, a complex set of regulations that would help developing countries keep their rain forests standing by turning their carbon-storing capacity into a source of income" The only problem is that " REDD has not yet established a way to recognize the rights of the indigenous communities who live in most of the forest areas...[and] REDD does not provide any guarantees that forests could not still be cut down" (Swink). Because of many countries that depend on resources such as wood, oil, and other resources that raise carbon emissions in the atmosphere, they cause the REDD to have many flaws. This brings up to my question. Can every nation on Earth agree to follow the Catholic Social Teaching of Stewardship and the Common Good so that the rainforest is saved and that the developing countries with the rainforest can gain economically by protecting the rainforest? Can all the countries i the world come together to stop the deforestation of the rain forest and reduce climate change?
~Jakub
I agree with this post because the Amazon rainforest is one of the biggest contributing factors to keeping the delicate balance of the Earth’s ecosystem stable. Because the consumption of greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels is continually increasing, the importance of having an intact large mass of plant matter, like the Amazon rainforest, to turn the carbon dioxide into oxygen is increasingly important to the health of the world’s ecosystems. It is imperative that the Amazon stay as large and as densely forested as possible to continue to clean the air and cool the Earth.
ReplyDeleteIn order to stop the hemorrhage of trees out of the Amazon, those who take resources from it have to practice sustainable use. Sustainable use is removing only necessary resources that can be easily replaced to prevent a negative effect on the environment. “Although there are more than seven hundred types of trees in the rainforest, loggers are only interested in the twenty or so species that have commercial value. … Many of the trees that are cut down have little or no commercial value and are left to rot. Other trees remain standing but are so damaged by bulldozers and other heavy machinery that they eventually die” (Darv). If the loggers practiced sustainable use, this would prevent almost all of the needless clear cutting that is currently stripping the Amazon bare. The natives who have lived in the Amazon for thousands of years have learned how to provide for themselves while not disturbing the rainforest.
In addition to greenhouse gas elimination, the Amazon is also a huge factor in, “the hydrological cycles that control rain. In the Amazon, 50 percent of rainfall is recycled by evapotranspiration… [and] another 25 percent of rainfall is returned through the atmosphere through direct evaporation from leaves” (Darv). Without this increased water evaporation, areas where the Amazon was clear cut experience droughts that dry out the landscape and make the area vulnerable to wildfires. The canopy of trees also protects the soil from being washed away, and without the canopy, the nutrients in the Amazon’s soil are eroded away, making it harder for plants to grow. Catholics around the world need to support organizations like REDD in the name of Stewardship and the Common Good so that they can gain more control over the needless waste and destruction of the Amazon.
-Carl
As introduced by Jakub, anthropogenic activity principally since the Industrial Revolution has discharged unprecedented quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The path of infrared radiation—essentially, heat—back into space is consequently obstructed particularly by carbon dioxide. Owing to plant life’s indispensable biological process of photosynthesis, deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon region promotes greater carbon dioxide concentrations; it thereby accelerates the process of global climate change. Atmospheric warming is furthermore fueled by the felling process itself: “deforestation was responsible for 75 percent of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions” in 1994 and responsible still for 52 percent in 2007 (Osava).
ReplyDeleteThe reduction of rainforest area, however, generates climatic effects beyond temperature change. Because “as much as half the moisture in some parts of the Amazon is recycled through evapotranspiration,” the rainforest’s “rain-generating capacity is reduced” due to deforestation; furthermore, “the heavy smoke from burning has been found to inhibit cloud formation and reduce rainfall” (Butler). Scientist Daniel Nepstad draws attention to the 2005 warming-induced drought in the region, in which “rivers dried up, remote communities were isolated, and commerce slowed to a standstill” (Butler). Therefore, deforestation’s environmental impact contributes to a greater mechanism that extends to Brazil’s economic welfare.
As mentioned in the previous blog, Brazil exhibited its “biggest annual decline [in deforestation] since the government started monitoring [it] in 1988;” Brazil presented these results “at the December [2009] global climate change summit in Copenhagen” (Osava). Through such international conferences, the Brazilian government and the rest of the world engage in effective dialogue. In light of a holistic perspective through a globalized lens, the importance of reducing deforestation becomes more imperative. It is through such unity and exchange of international input that makes deforestation more evidently antonymous to stewardship. Lastly, in consideration of its aforementioned effects upon the global community, deforestation is thus a retardant force to efforts toward the common good.
-Josh (:
ReplyDeleteMy classmates raise very significant arguments with regard to the effects of deforestation on climate. As mentioned previously, deforestation contributes to rise in carbon dioxide and in turn to the rise of global warming. Furthermore, it results in soil erosion and an increase in desertification, which is the expansion of deserts (“Effects of Deforestation”). But as humans, people may not necessarily understand the severity of the consequences that deforestation poses. Since the problems have not yet affected them directly, they choose to ignore the issues.
ReplyDeleteWhat people need to realize is that many of the products they use today to make their lives easier, may be making other lives more problematic in the future. For example, the paper products people use daily “could have been a part of a forest which functioned to enrich and hold soil, absorb carbon dioxide, collect and recycle water, release oxygen, and regulate climate” (Rochen). Since people are not taking the consequences of deforestation seriously, the government is compelled to take action. The principle of subsidiarity states that “when the needs in question cannot adequately be met at the lower level, then it is not only necessary, but imperative that higher levels of government intervene” (“Catholic Social Teaching”). If the government accepts its role to combat deforestation, it will be preventing temperature rises that throw Mother Nature off course and ultimately be providing a safer environment for future generations.
-Jessica
"In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released findings that the climate will continue to change, and that human generation of greenhouse gases is responsible for most related changes since the 1950s" (Center for a New American Society). One of the crucial factors that is undeniably contributing to the climate change is the deforestation of the Amazon. Cutting and burning down the trees has the strong drying effect around the local area. Because there are not enough trees, under-appreciated services such as holding the moisture from rain and releasing into the atmosphere to prevent drought and dryness around the area are now out of control.
ReplyDeleteOther problem related to the climate change was the burning down the excessive amount of trees. Fires to clear out the forest for industrial uses are usually three-month long and this creates serious atmosphere and climate problems across the region such as "airport closings and hospitalizations from smoke inhalation". The biggest problem of those fires is that "the burning produced carbon dioxide containing more than 500 million tons of carbon, 44 million tons of carbon monoxide, and millions of tons of other particles and nitrogen oxides" (Butler). Those greenhouse gases release from the fire are playing huge roles in the global warming.
Deforestation of the Amazon is continuing and the Amazon is losing its ability and value in exchange of temporarily goods. We need to realize that this is the property of all and should not be treated as it is right now. If this continues in a same rate, we will soon lose our the life-forest and threaten ourselves.
- Grace