Blog post #1: Deforestation and Our Behavior

Why is deforestation such a big issue?  Why do we care so much about it?  Deforestation is an issue that is going to pretty much dictate our world in the near future, at least in my opinion.  Trees are the ones that let us breath and live, they keep us going.  “I speak for the trees,” Dr. Seuss wrote in The Lorax, which is going to be me here.  About 60,000 square kilometers of forests are being cut down each year.  That is due to many reasons.  We need trees for paper at schools, offices, etc. also for wood.  You can find wood in almost everything that you touch and see.  It is in the furniture you sit on, the things you write with, the things you eat out of and use to make meals with, and it is even what you live in.  Trees are a major part of our life, not just because of wood and paper but also because of the air we breath.  They provide us with oxygen and if we continue to cut them down at the rate that we are we will not be living as long as we should.  

            Cultural ecology is a good example on how the environment we live in and the ones we don’t know about.  The first step is when technology effects the environment.   For example when we come up with new lawnmower or car, you go and test it outside.  So you would take this lawnmower out and test it on your yard and see if it cuts well or if you like the way it works.  Or if you have a new model of a car that you really like, so you take it out for a spin and you are out for a good thirty minutes you are polluting the air because of just driving around for fun. These are both examples on how technology is effecting the environment.  This same technology affects our behavior because we become curious when we see something new that we want to just try it out.  When you see that a new iPhone or computer comes out you want to go and test it out or see if you want to buy it.  That is what we are best at, buying and relying on technology.  Finally, our behavior can affect the rest of the world.  If we are buying things like crazy then the producers of those things are going to take that into account and keep producing more of the things that will sell the most.  Also the fact that we want to keep building houses, offices, and just buildings everywhere doesn’t help the fact that we are destroying someone else’s home when we find the land for these future buildings.  

            On the other hand ethno ecology comes in handy when you are going out and teaching or even just talking to people about what Deforestation and our behavior towards it is.  You have to be interested in people’s point of view to that subject and then their known knowledge but also the knowledge that they still do not have.  Not a lot of people know the hard facts about this issue.  They just know that yeah, we have been cutting down a lot of trees lately wonder why? Or they know very minimal on the affects that cutting down all these rainforests can have on the environment on that part of the world.  There are so many factors that go along with deforestation.  You have to keep in mind the animals that live in those rainforests and then the oxygen sources that you are cutting off by killing that many trees at once. 

            I think that this destroying rainforests and habitats of other animals and sometimes even humans will take a turn soon enough and will lead us all down a path to where we will look and just think, why did we ever think this was a good idea.  I do not believe our world will be over ruled with technology before we will run out of fresh air to breath.  There is only so much you can do to try and help this issue.  Try and not use so much paper for anything you do.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, the three R’s that you should always follow.  So what, maybe it won’t get you so far right now but just think in the long run you will be thankful because you would have created a better life for those after you.  Just keep that in mind.