Deforestation

In his essay Island Civilization, Roderick Nash explores the human destruction of the wilderness and the effects it has on the Earth. Nash sums up the past environmental attitude by showing that “for thousands of years the success of civilization seemed to mandate the destruction of wild places, wild animals, and wild peoples” (p. 373). Humans have always and will continue to fight against the wild like a defenseless enemy. A dominant factor in the destruction of wilderness worldwide is rapid deforestation. Forests are being stripped for resources and flattened to make way for subdivisions and shopping malls.

            One of the oldest and most prevalent causes of deforestation is the clearing of land for agriculture. Farmers need open land to grow sustainable crops in large numbers. This extensive cutting and logging has gone on for decades without much thought given to the effects on the planet. It has been estimated that the world’s rain forests will have been completely logged in one hundred years at the current rate of deforestation. In addition to the absence of trees, deforestation also destroys many species whose entire population exists in specific areas of the forests. Many species with smaller populations have made it to the extinction list due to the actions of humans.

            The Amazon Rain Forest is a prime example of major deforestation. In the past 40 years, 20% of the rain forest has been cut down due to excessive logging. It is expected that another 20% will disappear within the next 20 years. Removing that massive amount of forest interrupts the natural rain cycle of the remaining forest, causing the remaining trees to dry up and wither away. Many of the people clearing this forested land do it illegally for their own profits. Brazilian police forces attempt to stop these perpetrators; however they are far too understaffed to stop all of the loggers. Due to this fact, the Amazon Rain Forest may meet an early demise.

            Island Civilization could be the answer to all of these problems. Getting all humans far away from the remaining wilderness such as the Amazon would give the land time to heal and spread. This process would take thousands, if not millions, of years to get back to the expansive forested Earth it once was. Without humans to stop it, it could be done. Only minor, responsible logging would be allowed on designated plots. Reforestation and selective logging would be practiced acts, preventing the civilization from knocking out an entire section of forest. While these measures seem drastic and unlikely to ever occur, they could potentially save the world’s shrinking forests.