Clear cutting

This paper is about clear cutting, which is a form of logging that is devastating to the environment. The idea of clear cutting is to cut down a lot of trees in mass production, and then move on to another spot. There are pros and cons to this practice. From what I have researched my opinion on clear cutting is it’s horrible for the environment.

Clear cutting helps replenish the environment. By planting sun loving trees on one’s property and cutting most of them down so new trees can grow starts the process over again, plus it provides jobs for our country, and we could use that about now. Clear cutting provides jobs for people in our country and other countries. Clear cutting requires jobs such as, loggers, truck drivers, and the people who handle the lumber after the clear cutting is done. We are using more wood than ever, but we are cutting down fewer trees than before. The process turns the bark of the log into mulch, and the round part of the log is cut off and goes to the paper mill. Processors leave a rectangle that gets cut into different sized planks. By cutting down many trees in a forest it opens up space for other trees to grow. In a forest trees compete for sunlight, so if you cut down a tree something will grow in its place. Those are facts from the pro-side of the argument. Others disagree that clear cutting replenishes anything.

Clear cutting is devastating to the environment. Cutting down a lot of trees in one place weakens the soil from lack of roots. By cutting down a tree its roots die. The roots hold the ground together and absorb the water. If there are less trees to hold the ground together, then there will be mass flooding and erosion. Erosion destroys the land the trees once lived on. Every day we destroy natural history by cutting down trees over 100 years old. Rainforests once covered 7 million square miles, now there’s less than half because of clear cutting and other logging practices.

As the human population grows, so does the use of trees. My opinion on clear cutting is that it puts a little money in our pockets, but it destroys the environment. Clear cutting may provide money, but by cutting down most of the strong trees it leaves the weaker trees and thus destroys a forest. Companies that clear cut destroy animals’ homes. Clear cutting causes the soil to become unstable from lack of tree roots and results in flooding. There are pros and cons. Clear cutting exists because it gives money, but if there were another way that could give more money, we would be doing that.

1.  If we share more, we will use less resources and not impact the environment so much

2.  We need to cut down on using so many resources in general.

3.  We need to live sustainably.  We need to think about the way we impact the environment and each other.

4.  One thing we need to start is to change oneself.  As Ghandi said, “Be the change you wish to see.”

How does oneself do this?  It’s so amazingly simple, thus people don’t fight over it.  If we just listen, and don’t concentrate on all the crappy objects that the mind creates, then we can be in the present moment and live our true life.

We are 1 of the 4650 species of mammals.  We have hair, mammary glands and give birth to live young, as most mammals do.

We are 1 of 52,500 species of vertebrates.  We have a backbone to protect our spinal cord, like all other vertebrates.

We are 1 of the 1,318,000 species of animals.  We breathe air and rely directly or indirectly on plants for food like all other animals.

Humans are 1 of the 1,750,000 species on the tree of life.  We are but one leaf on the Tree.

Yet, with a population of over six billion, humans have the greatest impact on the Tree of life. ” -  Rochelle Strauss.

All species are one of a kind.  They each have a right to live.  When you impact nature negatively it does not help nature.  Humans are nature.  If we see this, we treat nature with respect.

When ever you do something negative to nature like cutting down a half an acre of trees, it can destroy our environment.  Trees take in the bad air and let us have good air.

We can plant trees, flowers, anything as long as its not poisonous or toxious, to make sure we help our planet and the planet’s environments.

“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” – George Washington Carver

What he was saying was that nature is like a radio. It sends out messengers; the flowers, trees, rain, snow, clouds, sun, moon, day, night, ice, and hail. These messages show that nature is in a good mood. Sometimes things like pollution, or pesticides in rivers, or animal loss of habitat would show that it is angry. If it is angry, you may notice war or you may hear the message of sick animals. This could mean that we are not believing that we are having an impact and there aren’t consequences to our actions. We need to see nature in a different way and change our thinking. When nature is angry, we need to think differently and then nature’s diseased storm may cease. Why I felt this was important is because I believe in the world and I love nature.