Why People Should Continue Cutting down the Rainforests - Essay Example

Teacher: number: Why People Should Continue Cutting down the Rainforests Forests, all over the world, are the biggest source of wood and timber. Woody biomass from the forests helps to produce energy (IEA Bioenergy 2-3). Studies show that the oil, natural gas, coal that are present in the earth’s crust have a major content that came from the forests, which were buried under the surface years ago. Therefore, forests are responsible of fulfilling our energy requirements. There are many types of forests like tropical rainforests, subtropical forests, Mediterranean forests, temperate forests, Coniferous forests, montane forests, plantation forests and boreal forests. These types are also divided into sub categories. Forests are not only important in providing the lumber, which is a renewable and sustainable material, but they are important in providing an economic growth but providing an agricultural land and reserving water for the agricultural land. Tropical rainforests are best in hold the rainwater but sometimes the plants and trees becomes so congested that one tree or plant becomes make the other’s plats life span short. In this way, the dead plants become more dangerous than carbon dioxide in some cases. Rainforest has mainly two major types: tropical rainforest and the other is temperate rainforest. Tropical rainforests are mostly located near equator, they receive more solar energy, and thus they have a warm and humid climate. In tropical rainforest, it rains quite well and one can find a tropical rainforest with high level of moisture and rain (Whitmore 32-39). Most of the trees in a tropical rainforest have broad leaves. A temperate rainforest is the one, which is farther from the equator, and it has a cool climate and there are less species of trees in a temperate rainforest. The trees in a temperate rainforest have needle shaped leaves. The other types of rainforests are montane rainforests, subtropical rainforests, mangrove rainforests, monsoon rainforests, lowland rainforests and flooded rainforests. In the tropical rainforests, plants and trees grow at a much faster pace that other type of forests (Whitmore 38-40). Therefore, if a rainforest managed sustainably, rainforests have the capability to meet the lumber requirements. Today most of the lumber requirements are provided by plantation forests where hard wood and softwood is grown to make the lumber available for the construction as well as other purposes like furniture making and others. Wood frame construction is a method of construction that is prior method for home construction from many years. Today people believe that is an easier and sustainable method to utilize timber in building a house. Wood is recyclable, durable, and lighter in weight as compared to cement or stone but the main factor that is enough to justify the utilization of wood in construction is its flexibility. Flexibility is directly proportional to the length of fibers present in a wood log. Generally, thick wood logs have less flexibility but wood logs that are larger in length have more flexibility. Sometimes, trees, which are larger in length but have smaller widths, are more sensitive to the heavy winds, storms and hurricanes. In a tropical rainforest, the maximum age a tree is not more than 100 years but in a temperate rainforest, the age of a tree could be 1000 years. It is an easier way to manage a tropical rain forest. The trees should be examined for any type of disease and the trees, which have some disease, must be cut down before it dies and transfers its disease to other plants and trees. A well-managed forest would produce more wood than what is required. In a tropical rainforest, the frequent rains are important not only in providing a better circumstances for the plants to grow but these rains are also responsible for the production of many parasitic plants that make the trees useless. The decomposition rate of plats in a tropical rainforest is much faster as compared to a temperate rain forest (Tangley 96-105). Therefore, the plants that have a limited age must be cleaned from the forest before they become a problem for the other plants. The age of the tree in a tropical rain forest should be carefully checked and it should be cut down before it dies. The concept of sustainably managed forests not only maintains the health of the forest but also meets the demand of the wood. In sustainably managed forests, one can achieve economic as well as environmental goals. Sustainable development is the key principle that is followed in sustainably managed forests. In sustainable management, the administration ensures that those species of plants and animals, which are going to extinct, are well cared and to manage the forest, the trees which grow rapidly and that are larger in number must be cut down to provide the lumber for the various purposes. In this way, the health of the forest remains good and productive and protective functions of the forests are easily achieved. The sustainable management thus ensures that the biodiversity and the ecosystem of the forest remain in a well condition. Today technology made much advancement in the industry of construction by utilizing sustainable and recyclable materials. Green homes and building are not only minimizing an economic load but also minimizing a load on the ecosystem. They are also helping the environment to retain oxygen and minimize the emissions of green house gases (Maloney 81-94). From many years, people utilized bamboo in the construction and it is still in use. Bamboo is actually comes in the category of grass and it takes shorter time to be fully-grown. Natural bamboo forests are in China and some other places in the world. It takes about 6 years to be fully-grown but trees take much time to be fully-grown. Therefore, instead of an old grown tree, bamboo or other trees, which grow rapidly, are a better choice. Bamboo is mostly found in rainforests and it dies after it produces seeds. Therefore, before it dies, the forest should be cut down. The weather and atmosphere of a rain forest helps some type of trees to grow rapidly. Trees like maple tree that grow faster must be harvested in the rainforests to provide the lumber. The dead materials and woody biomass that are most found in a rainforest can be utilized to generate energy. A method known as controlled combustion can generate energy from the woody biomass from the forests (IEA Bioenergy 3-6). A controlled combustion burns a substance to produce energy in a closed vessel. The process decreases the emissions of green house gasses to a certain level. Forests are the biggest producer of oxygen, which is a vital component of air, which we take in (Tangley 39-49). Oxygen is required by every living organism of the world to convert food into energy. Humans have the same process of converting the food into energy. If there were no forests particularly rainforests, the oxygen level in the air will become insufficient and lung diseases and other diseases related to the lack of oxygen, will increase. Therefore, it is important to maintain the productivity of the forests in terms of emission of oxygen to ensure the survival of humans as well as other organisms of the world. Another economic aspect of forests is that the forests have such plants, which have the cure for many diseases. The cure for malaria was found in a forest plant and similarly cures for other diseases are found in the forests. Some people say that the forests keep many insects, reptiles and creatures, which can be dangerous for the humans, but if there would be no forests no creature will survive, as the extinction of creatures affects all the other creatures. Consider that all the snakes of the earth are killed as the animal is dangerous for the human life, the ratio of rats and mice on the earth will drastically rise. Ecosystem is comprised of all the creatures of the world (Tangley 22-38). However, it should be considered that the number of snakes and the number of mice would remain constant to manage a forest’s ecosystem. As the rainforests cover most of the space, a large variety of plants and animals are present in the rain forests. If the forests are harvested for the medical purposes, many medicines would be easily available. Forests are highly associated with the agriculture (Maloney 48-69). The land where forest trees are cut down could be utilized to harvest fruit trees. Fruit trees not only provide and economic backup but also produce oxygen, which is essential for the living beings. Some fruit trees are also important in providing hard and soft wood for construction and industrial purposes. Sawdust and small and thin wood logs can be converted into plywood sheets or plywood board that fits to various purposes. Rainforests are vital for the earth. Tropical rainforests must be managed sustainably. Tropical rainforests are essential in providing an economic sustainability and environmental sustainability. As the tropical rain forests has high decomposition rate and lower ager of trees which grow rapidly, the trees must be cut down before they die to make them usable. In this way, it is essential to continue cutting down the rainforests. Works Cited IEA Bioenergy. Sustainable production of woody biomass for energy. 2002. Retrieved on 21st August 2011 from https://files.pbworks.com/download/ij2M45ttsw/np-net/12639152/IEA%20(2002)%20Sustianable%20Woody%20Biomass%20Production.pdf Maloney, Bernard Kevin. Human Activities and the Tropical Rainforest: Past, Present, and Possible Future. London: Springer, 1998. Tangley, Laura. The Rainforest. Pennsylvania: Chelsea House Publishers, 1992. Whitmore, T. C. An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1998. Read More