Why We Must Plant More Trees

When I think of deforestation, I think of the vast “slash and burn” operations that were carried out in the 1970s, and I think about how it affected the wildlife more than our atmosphere.

The earth has immense forests, which play an important part in the sustainability of habitation. Trees and plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen in the spring and summer; in the fall, they drop their leaves which give off carbon dioxide.

This cycle seems to keep the CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels in the atmosphere balanced throughout the year. If only humans could have this impact! Without leaf cover, the albedo (surface reflectivity) changes; what used to be lush and green (rainforests) becomes dry and reflects the rays of the sun back up into the biosphere, trapping heat.

Without the forests creating oxygen, the balance in our atmosphere becomes tenuous. The balance of the gases in the earth’s sub stratosphere is delicate, and their stability is of great importance to anyone who needs air to breathe.

Human activity, like cutting down forests and overgrazing land, can change the climate, not only where it is happening, but around the world. Rising temperatures in the atmosphere have long-term effects on the ocean and the polar ice caps which have the potential for wreaking havoc with the climate worldwide.

Forest Fires and Palm Oil Plantations

As one of the biggest crises that humanity faces global warming starts to take its grip. It is now a known fact to us that the increasing temperatures particularly in tropical environments is causing more dramatic forest fires in places such as Australia and the Amazon noticeably in the years 2019 and 2020.

The Amazon is widely considered to be the “lungs of the planet” clearly playing a vital role in the survival of our planet our home and humanity as a whole.

Most of these however are naturally occurring fires to which the forest can recover and flourish once again. They have grown and adapted to do this over thousands of years but they become increasingly more intense year on year.

What is not natural, however, is the controlled burning of forests for logging and spatial clearing purposes. This can go horribly wrong and cause the permeant destruction of natural wildlife and habitats which will struggle or even find it impossible to recover.

We must prevent this at all costs. No amount of money is worth the destruction of the natural world. There has been a lot of controversy regarding palm oil plantations.

Sadly Palm oil is in absolutely everything from soaps to foods to cleaning products. Most of the time we use it without even realising it.

To help the rainforests globally we must ensure that our palm oil has come from a sustainable source. By sustainable I mean that the plantations have not been a replacement to a patch of rainforest and the forest surrounding the areas are still flourishing and plantations are not expanding into growing flourishing forests.

When shopping for goods, it is everyone’s duty to first check whether there is palm oil in the product itself? Whether there is a palm oil-free replacement for the product i.e chocolate and fair trade chocolate, scented shower gels and soaps, or plain palm oil-free bar of soap? Both do the same thing and also if palm oil is present research the company as to where their source is and where their palm oil comes from.

It is of utmost importance that the forests worldwide are protected; by protecting this vast resource, we protect our planet and our future. Plant trees!