Deforestation occurs in areas to promote urban growth or just to log the area for its natural resources. The Earth has plenty of urban areas, do we really need to destroy beautiful lands just to make tall buildings?

Walking through the tall forests near my Appalachian home, I stoop down to pick up a seashell embedded in the dirt and mud. Finding a seashell on the top of a mountain is a wonderful moment. It's a reminder that all of the tall mountain ranges were once submerged under water.

Imagining the water and sea life all around me and that this dizzying elevation was once below sea level is sometimes hard to grasp. For thousands of years, these mountains have been changing and evolving into what I now stand upon.

When I travel eastward through my home state and view what was once a breath-taking view, the site is even harder to grasp: mountaintop removal and deforestation. The changes that have taken place over thousands of years are blown up in a moment.

My home area isn't the only place experiencing annihilation of beautiful forests. Many countries have already seen the destruction: Nigeria, Brazil, Congo, Central America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Deforestation is a serious environmental concern that if isn't halted can create extreme global climate change. One way to deforest is by burning. Burning trees releases carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. An abundance of carbon dioxide creates the greenhouse effect, where the atmosphere traps the sun's heat and warms up the earth.

As the earth has continually warms over the years, glaciers melt and sea levels rise. 95% of Southeast Alaska's glaciers are thinning. Hurricanes occur due to natural ocean fluctuations. When the ocean is rising at a consistently fast rate because of melting glaciers, hurricanes are eminent.

Let's not forget the rain forests. At one time, they covered 14% of the earth. Now, they only cover 6%. Rain forest deforestation is causing a loss of 50,000 species of plant, animal, and insects a year.

The health of biological systems depends on biodiversity, the variation of life upon Earth. Deforestation reduces biodiversity, affects food cycles on a major scale, and decreases the quality of life of the people on Earth.

Learn more about this author, Wendy Brock.
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