Deforestation And Its Effects On The Environment - 1616 Words

Background Webster dictionary defines deforestation as the action or process of clearing of forests. It occurs when humans desire to make use of land covered by forest for other purposes. This clearing of tree is concerning due to the fact that trees are being cut down at a rate much greater then they can grow back. This is called overshot, and can have a devastating impact on the environment. There is an estimated loss of 18 million acres of forest each year. That is roughly equivalent to the size of the country Panama. That is equivalent to a loss of 36 football fields of forest every minute. This leads to the destruction of the habitats of thousands of animals, and plays a huge role in climate change. Deforestation is believed to be the leading cause of climate change, contributing 1.6 billion tons of greenhouse gases, roughly 30 percent, of annual greenhouse gas emissions. This is a global issue, however usually tropical rainforests are targeted. Countries with the most significa nt deforestation include Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the most deforestation is Indonesia. In the last century, Indonesia has lost 16 million hectares of forest. The World Resources Institute estimates that most of the world’s remaining indigenous forest is located in Canada, Alaska, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon basin. Deforestation has been happening since the beginning of civilization. Scientists estimate that half of the world’s tropical forestsShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Deforestation On The Environment845 Words   |  4 Pagesdo to protect the environment? Our planet is shifting, we need to help it change for the better. There are many effects that can change our Globe in a shocking manner but, the good news is each individual can contribute to make a better world for our children. People across the world acquired, use, and dispose enormous multiplicity of products which helps to build our lives easier and more comfortable. However, the outcome of this can make massive damage to our environment. Working together withRead MoreEffects Of Deforestation On The Environment1389 Words   |  6 PagesDeforestation is one of the many problems this world faces today. Many people are unaware of how harmful deforestation can be towards the environment and the animals that inhabit the area. Many people don’t even know what deforestation is and that it’s actually happening. To sum it all up, deforestation is the process of destroying forests by cutting them down or burning the trees down, destroying hundreds of acres in order to make more land available for other uses thinking that the benefits outweighRead MoreThe Effects Of Deforestation On The Environment1379 Words   |  6 Pagesyou no choice but to run through the forest. Being separated from family members, all alone in the african desert with no home left. This issue is happening all over the place for many beloved animals yet not much is being done about it at all. Deforestation is a major issue for animals, forests are a huge source of oxygen for the wildlife surrounding them. â€Å"80% of the animals in the world live in or around forests†(National Geographic, Munita) there has been a huge increase for many species goingRead MoreDeforestation And Its Effects On The Environment1120 Words   |  5 PagesTo start off, thirty percent of the world’s land are forests. (Anonymous, para. 1). However, the number of forests are dwindling down due to the deforestation that happens every year. Deforestation is â€Å"the act or result of cutting down or burning all the trees in an area† (Anonymous). Unfortunately, this damages the land. Deforestation has many factors of what causes the loss of trees. There are agriculture farmers that cut down trees to have more acres to grow more plants or to have more livestockRead MoreThe Effects Of Deforestation On The Environment915 Words   |  4 Pageson going environmental issues, which include water shortages, soil erosion and deforestation. The soil erosion has been caused by an excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers. Deforestation has been a detrimental issue because of the large amounts of agricultural and land clearing, and not to mention the over use of wood products for fuel purposes, without replanting new growth. Another leading cause of deforestation is forest fires caused by man, whether it’s intentional or accidental. Water shortagesRead MoreDeforestation And Its Effects On The Environment912 Words   |  4 PagesRainforests today are disappearing at an alarming rate as a result of deforestation for commercial purposes such as logging, agriculture, and livestock and the probable solution are becoming far from realistic as the expansion becomes bigger and bigger. Every year, an estimated 18 million acres are destroyed for various reasons, including paper, timber. An average of two football field sizes of pre cious rainforest are torn down, killing millions of animals and destroying valuable pharmaceutical plantsRead MoreThe Effects Of Deforestation On The Environment953 Words   |  4 PagesAir Pollution Deforestation has been an ongoing activity in both the North and South Island in relatively equal measures. Since New Zealand was inhabited, Maori and European settlers have exploited the forests in New Zealand, reducing them from 82% to 23% of the surface area throughout the country. (Ewersa et al,, 2006). This is a great volume of vegetation which has been removed from the earth’s surface. In return, many harmful impacts are being imposed on the environment. One of these is the increasedRead MoreDeforestation of Our Rainforests931 Words   |  4 PagesThe most destructive and harmful tragedy that our rainforests, specifically the Amazon, suffer from is deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing or destruction of land throughout forests. Unfortunately, human beings are the number one cause of deforestation throughout the world. The reason if this is simply because we use the wood mainly for things like hydroelectric dams that power communities, palm oil for its biofuel res ourcefulness, and the mining for diamond and gold. Another reason wouldRead MoreDeforestation And Environment1402 Words   |  6 Pages Deforestation is an increasing global crisis and is mainly caused by human actions. Forests cover approximately 31% of the area on the planet (Deforestation, n.d.). Deforestation is the destruction of a wide area of forest land into a cleared land that is used for a variety of reasons. The impact on the environment from cutting down, burning and damaging forests is very detrimental and there are severe consequences for the environment and future generations due to deforestation. According to theRead MoreCause And Effect Of Deforestation1259 Words   |  6 Pages2 28 October 2015 Cause and Effect of Deforestation Deforestation is a problem that does not concern many people, but it is an issue that the people of Earth need to deal with. In the past 50 years deforestation has increased a significant amount, but people around the world have been removing the forests since the 1600s. The forests remaining are in danger as the human population goes up, the need for resources will also increase and this will make the deforestation of the last forests come quicker

`` Questing For Monsters `` By John Mueller, An American...

In â€Å"Questing for Monsters to Destroy,† John Mueller, an American political scientist, says American policymakers put â€Å"a truly massive emphasis on exquisite theorizing and on defense expenditures,† because these policymakers, â€Å"became mesmerized by perceived threats that scarcely warranted the preoccupation and effort,† of actual military action (p 117). He argues that American decision makers constantly saw Russia’s actions as bigger threats than they really were and acted accordingly, which resulted in the U.S. spending money and troops to fight wars they should have never been involved in. In the Communist invasion of Korea in the summer of 1950, Stalin believed North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung when he said he was â€Å"absolutely certain of success.† However, Stalin made it clear the USSR would not be footing the bill for a war in Korea if Sung was wrong, and he was. Once the United States sided with the South Koreans, the war became a fiasco instead of the quick, easy, and cheap spread of Communism Stalin thought he was signing on for, and Korea has never been stable since. Similarly, on September 11, 2001, al Qaeda underestimated American retaliation when they orchestrated and executed terror attacks on U.S. soil. Since Americans started a â€Å"war on terror,† al Qaeda’s efforts have become â€Å"desperate self-promotion† and most of â€Å"their† attacks have been made by affiliated and never again had such a catastrophic impact as 9/11 (p 123). Although the perpetrators of both theShow MoreRelatedJohn Mueller And The United States Essay1860 Words   |  8 Pagesspread of their ideals for selfish and self-righteous reasons. John Mueller and Odd Arne Westad share their arguments as to what the United States’ actions have produced during the Cold War in Eastern Europe, Korea, and Vietnam and during the post-9/11 period in the Afghanistan and Iraq. While some of their arguments are valid, others are flawed. In â€Å"Questing for Monsters to Destroy,† John Mueller, an American political scientist, says American policymakers put, â€Å"a truly massive emphasis on exquisite theorizing

Biodiesel in Malaysia free essay sample

In the United States, the majority of biodiesel is made from soybean or canola oils, but is also made from waste stream sources such as used cooking oils or animal fats. Biodiesel is a diesel replacement fuel that is manufactured from vegetables oils, recycled cooking greases or oils, or animal fats. History of biodiesel around the World Transesterification of a vegetable oil was conducted as early as 1853 by scientists E. Duffy and J. Patrick, many years before the first diesel engine became functional. Rudolf Diesels prime model, a single 10 ft (3 m) iron cylinder with a flywheel at its base, ran on its own power for the first time in Augsburg, Germany on August 10, 1893. In remembrance of this event, August 10 has been declared International Biodiesel Day. Diesel later demonstrated his engine and received the Grand Prix (highest prize) at the World Fair in Paris, France in 1900. This engine stood as an example of Diesels vision because it was powered by peanut oil a biofuel, though not biodiesel, since it was not transesterified. He believed that the utilization of biomass fuel was the real future of his engine. In a 1912 speech Diesel said, The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal-tar products of the present time. During the 1920s, diesel engine manufacturers altered their engines to utilize the lower viscosity of petrodiesel (a fossil fuel), rather than vegetable oil (a biomass fuel). The petroleum industries were able to make inroads in fuel markets because their fuel was much cheaper to produce than the biomass alternatives. The result, for many years, was a near elimination of the biomass fuel production infrastructure. Only recently have environmental impact concerns and a decreasing cost differential made biomass fuels such as biodiesel a growing alternative. Research into the use of transesterified sunflower oil, and refining it to diesel fuel standards, was initiated in South Africa in 1979. By 1983 the process for producing fuel-quality, engine-tested biodiesel was completed and published internationally.An Austrian company, Gaskoks, obtained the technology from the South African Agricultural Engineers; the company erected the first biodiesel pilot plant in November 1987, and the first industrial-scale plant in April 1989 (with a capacity of 30,000 tons of rapeseed per annum). Throughout the 1990s, plants were opened in many European countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden. France launched local production of biodiesel fuel (referred to as diester) from rapeseed oil, which is m ixed into regular diesel fuel at a level of 5%, and into the diesel fuel used by some captive fleets (e. g. public transportation) at a level of 30%. Renault, Peugeot and other manufacturers have certified truck engines for use with up to that level of partial biodiesel; experiments with 50% biodiesel are underway.During the same period, nations in other parts of the world also saw local production of biodiesel starting up: by 1998 the Austrian Biofuels Institute had identified 21 countries with commercial biodiesel projects. 100% Biodiesel is now available at many normal service stations across Europe. In September of 2005 Minnesota became the first U. S. state to mandate that all diesel fuel sold in the state contain part biodiesel, requiring a content of at least 2% biodiesel. History of biodiesel in Malaysia One such fuel, which has been gaining prominence in recent years, is biofuel. Clean and renewable, biofuel has been touted as the answer to the issue of the diminishing of energy reserves. It was led by Yang.Berbahagia Tan Sri Datuk Dr Yusof Basiron, former Director General of MPOB, MPOB has been the pioneer and is at the forefront in researching into palm biodiesel project. Since the 1980s, MPOB in collaboration with the local oil giant, PETRONAS, has begun to develop a patented technology to transform crude palm oil into a viable diesel substitute. This process involves the transesterification of crude palm oil into palm oil methyl esters or palm biodiesel. It has also been successfully demonstrated in a 3000 tonnes per year pilot plant located in the MPOB headquarters. Palm biodiesel has been systematically and exhaustively evaluated as diesel fuel substitute from 1983 to 1994.These included laboratory evaluation, stationary engine testing and field trials on a large number of vehicles including taxis, trucks, passenger cars and buses. Exhaustive field trials with 30 Mercedes Benz of Germany mounted onto passenger buses have been successfully completed with each bus covered 300,000 km, the expected life of the engines. Biodiesel in Malaysia In Malaysia, biodiesel called the Envo Diesel was launched by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday 22 March 2006. Malaysia currently produces 500,000 tonnes of biofuel annually and the government hopes to increase this number this year. Envo diesel blends 5% processed palm oil (vegetable oil) with 95% petrodiesel. In contrast, EUs B5 blends 5% methyl ester with 95% petrodiesel.Diesel engine manufacturers prefer the use of palm oil methyl ester blends as diesel engines are designed to handle 5% methyl esters meeting the EN14214 biodiesel standard, which palm oil cannot meet. Malaysia announced that it will build three plants to produce biodiesel from palm oil, as part of efforts to reduce its dependency on foreign oil and increase demand for domestically produced palm oil. Palm biodiesel is set to become a viable alternative to petroleum diesel, Commodities Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui told an international palm oil congress in Kuala Lumpur. Palm biodiesel is attractive when oil is above $43 he added. Crude oil is currently trading around $65 a barrel.With fossil oil fuel becoming lesser and lesser and ultimately depleting the world over, it might be wise for Malaysia to adopt and implement the use of these renewable fuel resources early, as such the national oil company, PETRONAS, must take th e foremost initiative first to tap this resource by making research on the blending palm oil diesel with fossil diesel to the best possible combination so that all diesel engines in this country could start using this blend or just purely palm oil bio-diesel which has been found to be an equally efficient and effective replacement. The initiative will be the first in the world on a national scale, since Malaysia is a gross producer and net exporter of both palm oil and also of fossil oil, there is no disadvantage whether Malaysia export less palm oil or more fossil oil which is value added in the form diesel and petrol. Whether or not it is economical or practical to implement this is purely a matter of policy by the government.If export fossil diesel fuel to be consumed ; used in Malaysia alone including subsidies Malaysia could increase their foreign reserves and offset the opportunity cost created by the palm oil price fluctuation and direct export earnings from palm oil. This policy implementation should be long term and will benefit future generations of Malaysians because palm oil diesel cannot be depleted owing to the fact it is a renewable resource and when in use in diesel engines it will be environmentally friendly. Whereas fossil oil diesel can be depleted and also can cause environmental damage. Th e cost for producing palm oil diesel could be reduced if used cooking oil from big consumers like KFC, Mc Donalds and other fast food chains could contribute used cooking oil for recycling into diesel for consumption by diesel engines.The cost of producing bio-diesel or palm oil diesel could be a fraction compared to producing fossil diesel, as crude or palm oil of the lowest grade such as soap making fats and also palm oil sludge waste could be used and it could be converted easily into bio-diesel for engine consumption on a very large scale and if there is an economy of scale the production cost could be further reduced. much research have been done by others including the King of Thailand; and the results observed have been proven to be viable and positive and therefore Malaysia should pursue this policy of implementation as the first on the national scale to enjoy the economy of scale. In etrol engines, pure bio-ethanol has been found to be an efficient and effective alternative replacement for the petrol fuel or if necessary also by blending both with less of petrol and more of ethanol as engine fuels, the optimum combination ratio to be determined by further research for all types of petrol engines; much research have also been done by others who have found this advantage, recently in china, a province which is a renown corn producer has been successfully producing ethanol from old and outdated stock of corn for consumption by petrol engines in its pure form without blending on large scale, that is consumption by the whole province, they are also burning bio-residues ; wastes from the fermentati ons plants for distilling the alcohol ethanol.Bio-ethanol could be produced by a local company using proven foreign technology on a large scale, by using bio-mass from wood wastes from forest industries, plants wastes from orchard trimmings ; also all types of wastes from sugar, maize, tapioca, palm oil ; rubber plantations ; also from reeds, grass ; rice husks from padi fields; garbage, rubbish and other wastes in the modern waste disposal incinerators could fuel the distilling of the ethanol and also produce electricity if the excess heat could be further harnessed. most of our fossil petrol and fossil diesel to be used ; consumed in the country could then be exported to earn foreign exchange reserves or the fossil oil reserves themselves be preserved for our future generations or whichever way is truly feasible and viable. Savings and conservation of our natural resources and establishing of Malaysia’s own renewable non-depleting alternative resources of fuels could be ach ieved using the two methods said above if implemented by the Malaysian government on a large scale basis could result with whole new industries that could offshoot from these initiatives.These initiatives could be realised to produce and distribute bio-ethanol and palm oil bio-diesel on a large scale, from biomass, made available from the said waste resources mentioned above, this will involve investments of about between US$1 billion to US$10 billion which Malaysia can attract outside investors interested in this program because of the large biomass waste resources available in Malaysia. The end products could even be exported to other countries lacking such resources like for example Singapore at a price cheaper than fossil fuel. Disadvantages of Biodiesel in Malaysia Projects requiring Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil as feedstock have been criticized by some environmental advocates.A Friend of the Earth has published a report asserting that clearance of forests for oil-palm plantations is threatening some of the last habitat of the orangutan. Over the past decade, Malaysia has converted large tracts of tropical rainforest to palm oil plantations on the island of Borneo. Recently, several Malaysian firms were implicated in illegal burning in Indonesia that produced a polluting haze that choked residents of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysias remaining old growth forests are, biologically, some of the richest on the planet and are home to a number of endangered species including forest elephants, rhinos, orangutans, tigers, monkeys, and tapir. The government has been working to encourage ecotourism but still struggles policing its own forests.

Autism free essay sample

This paper discusses autism, a development disorder that inhibits communication and severely limits the development of a childs skills. The author describes the behavior and developmental problems of autistic children. This paper focuses on autistic children ages three to five, because this is the age when diagnosis and treatment begins. The paper states that Federal law requires that at age five, when the child is ready to begin kindergarten, the state of residence must provide the child, his/her parents and the school system with an individualized education plan. The paper discusses various treatment programs. Unfortunately, the newness of the condition hampers the diagnosis and treatment for children with autism. Autism itself has many varying severities, what might show up in one child might not show up in another. For this reason, autism is usually defined as a spectrum disorder, or one that can have symptoms in any combination with different levels. We will write a custom essay sample on Autism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page While the symptoms usually begin in infancy, the true diagnosis usually occurs when the child is around age three. Several factors surrounding an infants birth can cause slower development as far as cognitive skills or verbal skills (i.e. premature, severe illness at birth), but around age three, most children seem to taper off to more defined skill-levels.