There is nothing new about people cutting down trees. In ancient times, Greece, Italy, and Great Britain were covered with forests. But those forests were cut down, and now almost nothing is left.
Today, trees are cut down faster and faster. About 100 acres of rain forests are cut down in a minute. That is fast enough to cut down all the world's rain forests in only twenty or thirty years. Although rain forests cover only a small part of the Earth, they are home to more than half the world's plants and animals. Many of them are losing their homes. Why are the rain forests cut down? There are important reasons for cutting down trees, but there are also dangerous influences upon life on earth.
One important reason for cutting down trees is that every country needs wood. In developed countries, people are using more and more wood for paper, furniture, and houses. There is not enough wood in these countries. So they have begun to take wood from the forests of Asia, Africa, South America, and even Siberia. A lot of wood is also needed as firewood in developing countries. In many areas, people depend on wood to cook their food. When the number of people goes up, the need for wood becomes great, too. But when too many trees are cut at once, forests are destroyed. When some trees in a forest are left, the forest can grow back. But the forest can grow back only if it is not cut again for at least 100 years. Small farmers who have great need for land move in. They cut down the rest of the trees and burn them. In this way, many millions of acres of forest are destroyed every year. But the land of forests is not good for farming. So these poor farmers are as poor and hopeless as before.
But the poor and hopeless people are not the only ones to cut and burn forests. In Brazil and Central America, large landowners want to keep lots of farm animals to sell their meat to the U.S. and other countries. Some fast-food restaurants use this cheap meat to make hamburgers. The landowners put too many farm animals on too little land. When that land has been damaged badly, they burn parts of the forests. Then they move the animals into the forest land. This way both land and forest are destroyed.
When rain forests are destroyed, it influences first the people living there. But it also has other influences far away. For example, on the mountainsides, trees help to take in heavy rains. When the trees are cut down, the rain goes all at once into the rivers and there are terrible floods. This has happened to the Ganges, the Mekong, and other large rivers in Asia. But finally, the loss of forests may have an influence on the temperatures of our planet. Together with worse pollution, it can make temperatures higher, and the weather may change all around the world. Nobody knows clearly what influences this will have on our lives. But for many people the influences will probably be terrible.
You must and can help to stop this. Don't buy things made of rain forest wood. When you go to a fast-food restaurant, ask the people who work there where the meat they use comes from. Explain to them why you are asking. Learn and teach about the wonderful and interesting plants and animals of the world's rain forests. Talk with others about the importance of saving the rain forests.