Axel Soto
Enc1101
November 4, 2015
Deforestation
Walt Kelly once said “We have met the enemy and he is us”, while this quote can be used for a variety of things, in this instance it will be used to describe the concept of deforestation. According to Merriam Webster deforestation is the act or result of cutting down or burning all the trees in an area. There are many causes that can lead to deforestation for instance, agriculture expansion, logging operations, land abuse, and accidental wildfires. Even through there are a variety of factors that can lead to deforestation the end result is always the same, utter destruction.
To begin with, the concept of deforesting is nothing new, the main differences between the present and the past lies in the causes. In the past deforesting was mainly used for agriculture, typically it was used in the slash and burn style. In the present deforesting for agriculture remains but in a much greater scale, according to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) about thirty-six football fields of trees are lost every minute due to deforestation. Agriculture plays a huge part in deforestation especially with the world population at an all-time high, in fact farmers are constantly expanding their land and cutting down trees to grow crops.
Next, unlike agriculture logging expansions didn’t occur until most recently. Logging operations are the root cause of the world’s paper, if it weren’t for loggers there would be no paper/wooden products. Although their many differences between logging operations and agriculture, a big difference would be that most logging operations are required by law to replant seeds to regrow the forest after deforestation. Unfortunately the cause of replanting was due to the devastating effects of deforestation that included soil erosion and floods.
Furthermore, another big cause of deforestation is land abuse, unlike agriculture and logging operations land abuse is not only a cause of deforestation but also an effect. Land abuse is the outcome of constant deforesting, effects of land abuse reduce the quality of the soil which makes replanting difficult. Another big cause of deforestation are wildfires. Wildfires tend to be accidental, but they can also be caused by severe weather during thunderstorms. Wildfires can be devastating to forest ecosystems, in fact they are so disastrous that the U.S created an advertising mascot named Smoky the bear to warn and teach the public on the dangers of wildfires.
Conclusion, seventy percent of the world is covered in water, and unless humans adapt and grow gills living in water does not seem ideal. Thirty percent of land not covered by water is covered in forests, and if the rate of deforestation continues its current route there will be no forests in the next century. The effects of deforestation are nothing short of disastrous, the causes include floods, soil erosion, loss of habitat, climate change and much more. As Walt Kelly once said “we have met the enemy and he is us”.

Works Cited
"Deforestation Facts, Deforestation Information, Effects of Deforestation - National Geographic." National Geographic. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
"Deforestation - Causes, Effects and Solutions - Conserve Energy Future." ConserveEnergyFuture. 17 Mar. 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
Bradford, By. "Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 4 Mar. 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.