Geralis Garcia
23 September 2019
The Harmful Causes and Effects of Deforestation
Deforestation is a process in which trees and forest land are removed for non-forest use. It is typically done for the sole purpose of creating farms, ranches or urban areas. Basically forests are removed for the human habitational use. This might sound harmless but in reality many people fail to realize how much it harms the Earth, wildlife and even our population. The sources I’ve chosen provide many facts and reason on why deforestation should be addressed more.
In the article, “Deforestation: Facts, Causes and Effects”, the breakdown of deforestation and its facts leading up to the initial causes and its effects are mentioned. Alina Bradford, the author of this article, has written health, science and tech articles for major publications and has acquired health, safety and lifesaving certifications from Oklahoma State University. The audience is meant to be the population of the world. Anyone who is living on Earth is intended to be the reader of this article. The author addresses the topic of deforestation by giving the audience facts on it first then analyzing the causes and the effects they have on us and the planet. The reasoning behind this method is to pull the audience in with the facts first then give her analysis on the topic. The purpose of this article is to address the topic of deforestation and its harmful effects, but more specifically to inform us on how it’s negatively effective. The genre of this article being non-fiction and the medium being a website allows for a bigger impact seeing as how social media is used for news now. The stance the author takes on this topic is that there needs to be
more awareness raised due to the fact that we cannot resolve it.”Global Forest Watch has also initiated a project to counteract deforestation through awareness. The organization uses satellite technology, open data and crowdsourcing to detect and alert others of deforestation.” (Bradford par. 22). This is also seen through the language the author uses which makes the content formal while being informative. “Many believe that to counter deforestation, people simply need to plant more trees. Though a massive replanting effort would help to alleviate the problems deforestation caused, it would not solve them all.” (par. 19). The language and tone the author presents addresses her analysis in a conventional way.
The National Geographic Magazine also wrote an article on deforestation and what can be done to resolve the issues it causes. The article starts by mentioning the importance of trees and the causes of deforestation. The conclusion to this article is that there can be something done to minimize the great impact deforestation has caused. The author, Christina Nunez, has spent five years at National Geographic and has covered a variety of topics. Her audience is again the world population like the previous source. Nunez mentions how “ As the world seeks to slow the pace of climate change, preserve wildlife, and support billions of people, trees inevitably hold a major part of the answer.” (par 1). She specifically says the world seeks to fix these major issues but in reality the trees are one of the main causes of them. The topic, as previously mentioned, is deforestation and the purpose of this article was to inform her audience on it. The medium being a magazine article and the genre being non-fiction allows for the audience to further grasp the reality and seriousness of the topic. The author’s stance is different from the previous. She believes that although the numbers are slim, there can be something done about deforestation. Her language being formal shows how she is serious about the topic at hand.
Jim Robbins, the author of “Deforestation and Drought” has been writing for the New York Times for 35 years. He has also written five books and focuses primarily on science and on environmental issues. This news article he wrote was very interesting due to him mentioning an effect that isn’t widely known by the public. The article talks about the drought that deforestation causes and how it affects places like California. The audience of this news article is meant to be the population yet again but also anyone who is interested in researching deforestation. The topic of this article goes beyond the well known causes and effects of deforestation. It focuses more on the drought that is caused by deforestation. Robbins addresses the topic of the drought right at the beginning of the article to grab the reader’s attention, ”Drought is usually thought of as a natural disaster beyond human control. But as researchers peer deeper into the Earth’s changing bioclimate — the vastly complex global interplay between living organisms and climatic forces — they are better appreciating the crucial role that deforestation plays.” (par 2). The purpose was to bring more attention to the droughts going on and how they can be resolved. The genre and medium being non-fiction and a news article make it have a formal tone and language that allow for a mature audience to understand it. The author’s stance is that of one who hopes for a better future. He agrees with the idea that something can be done to help this devastating issue.
The journal article titled, “The Deforestation and Its Effects in Highland Madagascar” by Daniel Wynne Gade touches on the wildlife conservation issue about deforestation. Gade was a professor of Geography at the University of Vermont and a member of the Berkeley School of Latin Americanist Geography. His audience was anyone who wanted to research about the Earth and mountains. Gade mentions the topic of some of the effects deforestation has on wildlife, “Tree and humus removal has led to massive erosion, floods, water shortages, and faunal extinctions or endangerments.” (101). The purpose of this journal article was to inform others of his thoughts and teach people more about their Earth. The genre is non-fiction and the medium is a journal article which makes anyone doing research become interested with what has to be said by Gade. The language he uses is very formal which makes him seem very serious about the topic.
Deforestation has been a prevalent issue for many years. The many topics about it include the causes and effects as well as how to resolve it. Some people take the optimistic approach and have hope for the salvation of forests and wildlife around the world. Others think there really isn’t anything to be done. Deforestation will continue to be a problem but as long as we try to do whatever we can, the effects can be diminished.
Works Cited
Bradford, Alina. “Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects.” LiveScience, Purch, 2018, www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html.
Gade, Daniel W. “Deforestation and Its Effects in Highland Madagascar.” Mountain Research and Development, vol. 16, no. 2, 1996, pp. 101–116. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3674005.
Nunez, Christina. “CLIMATE 101: DEFORESTATION.” National Geographic, 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/.
Robbins, Jim. “Deforestation and Drought.” The New York Times, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/deforestation-and-drought.html?searchResultPosition=1
