The Student Room Group

Amazon deforestation, is it bad?

As we all know the Amazon has been suffering deforestation, and we hear its the 'lungs of the earth', and 'global resource'.
But what are the facts?

The Amazon might well be only a few centuries old, because the crazy thing is, that deforestation has exposed thousands of old towns and villages, that once supported a population of millions, who farmed the land:

https://time.com/5218270/amazonian-civilization-discovered-mato-grosso/ "Ancient civilisation in the Amazon"

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/03/amazon-jungle-ancient-population-satellite-computer-model/ "Amazon once home to millions"

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24132130-300-long-lost-cities-in-the-amazon-were-once-home-to-millions-of-people/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3173398/Is-Amazon-rainforest-MAN-8-MILLION-humans-lived-farmed-basin-peak.html
(edited 3 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Time, National Geographic, New Scientist, and the Daily Mail aren’t exactly small local media, so I’m not sure why you’re trying to Fake Outrage than no one is talking about this and also it makes not a single bit of difference to climate change as a post-Industrial man made phenomenon.

I wish the national and international news were spreading more doom about the effects of climate change, because it is a very real threat that needs to be taken far more seriously by the media and politicians.
Reply 2
Small scale farming done my little tribal units is vastly different to the post-industrial revolution massive scale farming with chemicals, though.
Reply 3
Some chemicals are good, yes, and if we're being really pedantic, everything is a chemical.

But there are some that, while improving initial yields, prove harmful to both land and living things over time.

There's a happy medium to be found.

And no, those comments are hyperbole. It's not going to be that bad.

But you've got to add in the cumulative deforestation that's happened globally as well. The Brazilian rainforest was one of the few enormous areas left relatively untouched, while the rest of the world cut their trees down.
Deforestation also leads to soil erosion. Where do you think that Carbon in the felled trees goes?

Climate change is happening and IS a major threat to mankind, particularly poorer countries, although the rich are not immune. Sea level rises are already a major issue.
What happens to it when it is burnt?


https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation
The transition to agriculture from natural vegetation often cannot hold onto the soil and many of these plants, such as coffee, cotton, palm oil, soybean and wheat, can actually increase soil erosion beyond the soil’s ability to maintain itself.

Half of the topsoil on the planet has been lost in the last 150 years. In addition to erosion, soil quality is affected by other aspects of agriculture. These impacts include compaction, loss of soil structure, nutrient degradation, and soil salinity. These are very real and at times severe issues.



Why do you think that you know better than the scientific community? Clue: You don't.
(edited 4 years ago)
Wrong. It goes into the atmosphere. Defoestation leads to less carbon being trapped in plants.


You said:

Deforestation, particularly in poor countries, is not responsible, or sustainable, land management. That's why there's so much more every year.


You know what works best? Leaving the sodding forests!
(edited 3 years ago)
Reply 7
Yes, but not if we chop down the trees!


The people who know better, who can educate, and who those countries turn to for aid, food, medicine and money...
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 8
If they can't learn from our mistakes, what good are we?
Reply 9
And part of modernising is not doing the same **** we did 100 years ago...

...because we've learnt from our mistakes.

Doesn't matter how you dress it up, it amounts to the same thing.
Your logic is flawed. Any effect on vegetation is not enought to stop the rise in CO2. Putting more CO2 into the atmosphere is, therefore, reckless.


We should be helping them to develop without the damage that we have done. We should not be trading with countries that abuse the environment.
(edited 4 years ago)
Tell that to the people losing their homes due to sea level rise and those killed by extreme weather.

Climate change kills.
That would be fewer ..

I don't know whether your source is credible, but I wouldn't be surprised if deaths, when averaged over a decade, are falling. We are better at protecting / moving people. We do see more extreme weather, which will result in more threat to life.


Sigh.
Of this GROSS tonnage as you put it, how much of those food exports come from Europe but are exported via Rotterdam? You have heard of the Rotterdam Effect surely?
What a bizarre thing to say. Fewer people are dying of AIDs. By your logic AIDs therefore keeps people alive!???

How is the financial cost of extreme weather events moving? I presume in your mind it must be going down?
the destruction of Amazonia is a catastrophe; for the native inhabitants who are often murdered and forced to flee their traditional ways of life, for the wildlife, and for the whole planet.

this egregious destruction is encouraged by the lamentable new president of Brazil. it is a tragedy of epic proportions fuelled by greed and stupidity.
the native tribes live with the forest, they do not trash it. you do not seem very well informed ?

:dontknow:
Just looked into this. What does a tonne of food look like and what does this even mean? If The Netherlands imports a million tonnes of food and turns it into frozen food does that count? In which case, you assertion isn't that spectacular.

As for exports of food grown by value. That would be the US by far followed by Germany and the UK of all places
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.worldatlas.com/amp/articles/the-american-food-giant-the-largest-exporter-of-food-in-the-world.html
Are you sure? Please see data in fake new story rather than fake news story
https://www.theguardian.com/weather/ng-interactive/2018/sep/11/atlantic-hurricanes-are-storms-getting-worse
Following this thread for the lols.

Quick Reply