Deforestation: Trees Today, Gone Tomorrow

Sweet Exchange

Have you ever been at the top of that ski hill, on the white sandy beaches of Florida, or even just enjoying the crisp charming leaves during fall in New England? Trees are all around us and make a scenery perfectly complete. Trees are immensely important to humans as well as wildlife. Ever since humans have walked this earth, we have been using trees for everything from firewood to food sources. In the most recent years we have finally taken note of our deforestation issues.

Plastic Overtakes Wood

In New England we have an enormous forest that covers all over with beautiful different types of species of trees. Deforestation can happen anywhere with trees, especially like New England. Logging has impacted New England greatly as many trees are used for producing products for things such as pellet stoves and regular wood stoves, which are essential to life in New England. Funding for land conservation has dropped 50% since 2008. (Powell) My last blog post, "Plastic Brains are The Future",  I talk about how important it is to save our oceans. I have noticed a sharp increase in public knowledge and effort in helping remove the plastic in the ocean. Thus causing people to put deforestation on the back burner while they invest in the most recent ocean issue.

Sunset over Franconia Notch, White Mountain National Forest
Photo by Ronan Donovan

Rainbow Connection  

In an article I read, "New England is Losing 65 Acres of Forest a Day" by Alvin Powell, he quoted Jonathan Thompson saying, "If current rates continue, New England will lose another 1.2 million acres by the year 2060." If we don't continue to realize that deforestation is still an issue we will start to lose our precious trees. Even though people are losing sight of deforestation and focusing on other big topics such as climate change, everything in the environment connects together. One thing we could try to do to hit two birds with one stone is to plant trees. Planting trees allows for the trees to suck up the carbon from the atmosphere helping the global climate change issue, while also giving life to many more trees and wildlife. Next Spring, plant a tree instead of a tomato plant, we all want to help the Earth a little more right?

The Right Type of Spending 

Preservation of forests has been a huge success especially in New England. Every National Forest is preserved and forbidden to create any big agriculture or industrial facilities, keeping our gorgeous lands safe and clean. Massachusetts has put on a new law called the Massachusetts Community Preservation Act of 2000. This law adds a surcharge up to 3% in property taxes. Revenue collected from this Act goes straight to preservation organizations. Eleven towns have newly signed on this year raising the total to about half the entire state's communities. With laws such as this, we can continue to help save our beautiful land. 

"Deforestation" Photo by Michael Coghlan

                             

Passing Through 

 Back then deforestation was due to space needed for farming. Now, its mostly due to industrial activities and large scale agriculture. The Northern Pass was an example of industrial and economic growth that would have caused deforestation. The Northern Pass was a big plan to run power lines down from Canada, Southward to Concord New Hampshire, and Eastward to Deerfield New Hampshire.(New Hampshire Public Radio) There was an estimated 192 miles of power lines ready to be set up in this track through New Hampshire. However, the proposal was denied in 2018. If we had this passed we would have cut through an amazing set of national mountains.

Tree Shopping 

Not only is deforestation happening close to home, but it's happening in other places as well. Since 1978, 289,000 square miles of the Amazon Forest has been destroyed. (Butler) Thousands of plants and animals have been forced to find other homes. This beautiful forest has gone through a lot of trauma over the years. The main driver for this deforestation is due to cattle ranching. The demand for beef has shot up causing more space needed for cattle. The civil efforts to support reforestation of the amazon has declined since the mid 2000's. In better news, the decline has more recently halted to a stop, as the efforts are now rising once again in favor of the trees.

Fort Benning Soldiers and Their Families Planting Trees

                           

Victory!

The Northern Pass was voted down, thus causing celebration of the people of New Hampshire. The Increase in civil action and government action to help the environment has gone up. We are all so lucky we are apart of a generation that wants to help, and plans to make the world a healthier place for all of us and the future generations to come.

Cutting Down Deaths

Here are a few ways to help our friend, the Lorax, save the trees:

• Plant a tree wherever you can
• Go paperless at home or in the office
• Buy recycled products, and recycle again!
• Support products of companies that have a mission to reduce deforestation 
• Look for products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council 

-Paige R

Works Cited: 

Benning Soldiers and Their Families Planting Trees. 27 Oct. 2018. U.S. Army , 30 Oct.
2018, www.army.mil/article/213176/benning_sets_down_roots_for_next_100_
years_soldiers_family_members_non_profit_members_plant_trees. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.

Butler, Rhett A. "Amazon Destruction ." Mongabay, 1 Apr. 2019, rainforests.mongabay.com
/amazon/amazon_destruction.html#. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.

Coghlan, Michael. Deforestation . Flickr, 15 Oct. 2011, www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/
6282365021. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.

Donovan, Ronan. White Mountains . National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/
travel/digital-nomad/new-hampshire/one-day-loop-white-mountains/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.

New Hampshire Public Radio. "Northern Pass." New Hampshire Public Radio, www.nhpr.org/
topic/northern-pass#stream/0. Accessed 5 Dec. 2019.

Powell, Alvin. "New England Is Losing 65 Acres of Forest a Day." The Harvard Gazette,
Harvard University , 21 Sept. 2017, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/09/harvard-
research-reports-major-forest-loss-in-new-england/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.

Blog Citation:

Rousseau, Paige R. "Plastic Brains Are the Future ." Paige's Enviroview, blogger.com,
pr-enviromentsaves.blogspot.com/. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.