Trees are extremely important for us. They give us oxygen and keep our environment clean by absorbing various harmful gases and pollutants from the atmosphere. We can breathe freely and live a healthy life because of the presence of trees around. However, even as trees are so important, humans are cutting trees ruthlessly without realizing that cutting trees means putting our lives in danger.
Deforestation – The Bitter Truth
Humans are cutting forests rapidly in the name of development and urbanization. Many forests and green patches around the world have been cut in the last few decades to make place for the growing human population and to fulfil their ever increasing material demands.
More and more people, these days, are moving from rural areas to urban cities. In order to accommodate them, the residential areas in the cities are being expanded and this is being done at the cost of trees. Trees are being cut and concrete jungles are being constructed in their place. Factories, offices and residential societies are being established at places that were once surrounded by beautiful green trees.
Trees are also being cut rapidly as the requirement for wood and other materials extracted from them is increasing by the day. Houses, tools, furniture, paper, medicines and a whole lot of other things are crafted from wood. While all these things are essential for living, we must not forget that our first and foremost need for survival on Earth is oxygen. If we continue to cut forests at this rate, the required supply of oxygen will dip and it would become difficult to live on this planet.
Deforestation also means loss of habitat for wild animals. Several species of animals have gone extinct from the face of Earth in the past and numerous others are on the verge of extinction. One of the main reasons for this is deforestation. This has also increased contact between humans and wild animals and the two stay in constant fear of each other. Other impacts of deforestation include disruption of water cycle, soil erosion and increasing pollution and heat. These are all equally bad for human beings as well as animals.