Dear Next President,

‘’Crash!’’ The sound of a Giant Sequoia plummeting into the forest floor while a chainsaw rips through its trunk. Pieces of bark fly through the air as the 2.7 million pound tree plunges from 250 feet in the sky. More trees soon go down after leaving an empty field of what used to be a luscious green woodland. Many forests are dwindling due to deforestation and not only leaving animals in need of shelter and food but also causing carbon dioxide levels to rise. Deforestation numbers have increased tremendously over the years; as a result there have been many dilemmas that need to be solved.

Although we cut down trees for our needs like paper, wood, etc., we as a nation are not giving this problem the attention it needs. The website Think Global Green states that, ''More than 200,000 acres of rain forest are burned every day. That is more than 150 acres lost every minute of every day, and 78 million acres lost every year.’’ That means that an unbelievable amount is lost, way more than what is intended. This is important because it is not only going to be very hard to replant all of those trees but almost impossible since that space is now being used, there isn’t any more space to plant that many more trees.

Most of the causes of deforestation have to do with lack of resources and the need for more space. According to the NASA Earth Observatory website, ''The single biggest direct cause of tropical deforestation is conversion to cropland and pasture, mostly for subsistence, which is growing crops or raising livestock to meet daily needs. The conversion to agricultural land usually results from multiple direct factors.’’ What this is saying is that all of that forest is gone because of farming and the conversion from wildlife to roads. This helps because now we have an idea of what the main cause is so we can try to solve this colossal problem once and for all.

There are many things we as individuals can do to slow this process down like to recycle more often. Unfortunately one person is not going to make a tremendous difference, but if we all started to do these things there will be definite improvement. The website GreenPeace mentions that “Companies can make an impact by introducing “zero deforestation” policies that clean up their supply chains. That means holding their suppliers accountable for producing commodities like timber, beef, soy, palm oil and paper in a way that does not fuel deforestation and has a minimal impact on our climate.’’ This basically says that companies can do something about all the destruction that they have caused. This matters because it will help this dispute dissolve.

Now some might argue that the price of losing most of our wilderness is worth paying when we are getting the resources and we have less work to do in the process. But I say that sacrificing the wilderness we love for our needs is not only selfish but is going to cause many problems for us in the future like increasing global warming, the destruction and loss of habitat to many animals, and an unbalanced food chain.

This issue needs to be solved but we need everyone’s help to bring the beautiful greenery back and stop anymore damage. The lives of many of our animals and plants lies in the hands of our next president and if nothing is done about this soon it will be a mistake that will be beyond impossible to fix. The sounds of chirping birds, the tall trees that provide homes for an abundance of living things, and the cool refreshing cold air from our forests shall live on as long as we do everything we can to save our forests before it is too late.

Thank you Next President

Sincerely,

Sara