The Lung of Our Earth
One and a half acres of the rain forest-“the Lung of the Earth”, are lost every second. In fact, they now cover only a mere 6% of the earth’s land surface compared with 14% when humankind first settled. Experts estimate that the last remaining rain forests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Obviously, deforestation has been becoming an alarming phenomenon for the whole world. Writing about this issue, Laura Lopen, John Maier and Dick Thompson express some quite strong opinions. In “Playing with Fire”, the authors indicate that the rain forests of the Amazon are being destroyed extremely.
Annually, farmers, cattle ranchers, loggers cut down trees for crops, pasturage and production. According to the authors, these actions have caused serious consequences for the entire planet. Biological diversity and genetic heritage will be decreased dramatically. Plus, it may change global weather patterns in a bad way. Besides, they say that the Amazon rain forest plays many important roles in human life and the environment. It is not only inexhaustible treasure trove of nature, but also a recycler which reproduces most of its nutrients and moisture.
More importantly, the forest makes the global climate equable and harmonious. However, its life has been endangered. “It’s dangerous to say the forest will disappear by a particular year, but unless things change, the forest will disappear”, says Philip Fearnside of Brazil’s National Institute for Research in the Amazon. In the authors’ opinion, the Amazon forest’s survival belongs to everyone who has to recognize the great value of protecting the forest. Firstly, the authors show that huge numbers of Brazilian rain forest are reduced to ashes annually.
Farmers burn the forests for crops; cattle ranchers burn for pastureland and loggers burn for production. I agree with this opinion because Brazilian deforestation is strongly correlated to the economic condition of the country. In fact, Brazilian agriculture is well diversified, and the country is largely self-sufficient in food. Agriculture accounts for 8% of GDP, and employs about one-quarter of the labor force in more than 6 million agricultural enterprises . (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Brazil).
That means they need a large area for agriculture. In reality, half of Brazil is covered by forests. Therefore, agricultural land is deprived from deforestation ways and large-scale burning of forest areas is a typical example. Secondly, the authors believe that consequences of deforestation would not be only an extremely catastrophe for South American but for the entire planet as well. Personally, I have the same opinion about this issue. I think the first affect is on the Amazon rainforest water ecosystem that causes increases in erosion and flooding.
In “Tropical Deforestation”, Shukla et al (1990) and his team indicate that: “The land of the Amazon rainforest is naturally nutrient-deficient because most of the nutrients are stored within the aboveground biomass of the vegetation. Tree root systems hold the soil together to slow the rate of flooding and reduce erosion. ” Therefore, once the trees are removed, the rainy season can have devastating effects. Additionally, global weather patterns could be affected badly that cause global warming, greenhouse effect and lead to extinction of plant and animal species.
Finally, the authors mention to the importance of the Amazon rainforest to human life and the environment. It is exactly true that forest is not only inexhaustible treasure trove of nature, but also a generator which produces oxygen-the life for human and species. As a matter of fact, Amazon is one of the richest areas in the world in animal and plant diversity. There are more plant species in one hectare in Amazon than the whole of Europe. There are about 30 times more fish species in Amazon than in European rivers. Plus, it is an enormously rich source of valuable, rare chemicals for human treatments.
More importantly, the rainforest of the Amazon is considered “the Lung of the Earth” which balances and harmonizes the global climate. It recycles carbon dioxide into oxygen that we breathe everyday. In fact, more than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest. In my opinion, the Amazon rainforest in particular and the forests in the world in general are being in emergency. Excessive deforestation is being on the alert. As a result, maybe forest will disappear if nothing is done to stop this action.
If once the great benefits of growing and protecting forest are recognized, it is more likely for its survival. Because we have been taking advantages of forest from the first day of settlement, we have to responsibility for saving it. That also means we are saving our life. In conclusion, “Playing with Fire” is a quite interesting and persuasive writing. The authors’ opinions are strong with specific evidences, clear statistics. The language is understandable and appealing. However, the writing is not very well-organized. Arguments sometimes are repeated and the opinions about one issue are not put in the same paragraph.
In my point of view, this writing needs reorganizing to be more successful. Reference list: Laura Lopen, Rio de Janeiro, John Maier, Porto Velho and Dick Thompson, Washington Time: “Playing with Fire”. (Topics for today, chapter 10, p. 217) Shukla, et al. 1990, Dickinson, R. E. , Durbudge, T. B. , Kennedy, P. J. , McGuffie, K. , and Pitman, A. J. , 1993, Tropical Deforestation: Modeling local- to regional-scale climate change, Journal of Geophysical Research Vol 98 No. D4 P7289-7315. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Brazil
