Forests & Deforestation

Watch

• Is the Amazon Rainforest disappearing? - Anna Rothschild ↗TED-Ed
• What is Deforestation? | Eco Facts | One Tree Planted ↗One Tree Planted
• The destruction of the Amazon, explained ↗Vox
• Climate change: can money stop deforestation? ↗The Economist
• The Tragedy Of Deforestation | Climate Change: The Facts | BBC Earth ↗BBC Earth
• Crisis in the Amazon: Will the largest rainforest in the world survive? - BBC World Service ↗BBC World Service

Read

• The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers and Defenders of the Amazon ↗An essential, if sobering, account of the political economy and human toll of Amazonian deforestation, revealing the complex interplay of power and nature.Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn
• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed ↗Examines how past societies, often through environmental mismanagement including forest depletion, have sealed their own demise, offering stark lessons for the present.Jared Diamond
• A Forest Journey: The Role of Wood in the Development of Civilization ↗A sweeping historical narrative illustrating humanity's enduring dependence on forests and the relentless, often unsustainable, exploitation that has shaped civilizations.John Perlin
• The Tragedy of the CommonsA foundational essay illuminating the inherent dilemma of shared resources and the rational self-interest that often leads to their collective ruin, a concept vital for understanding deforestation.Garrett Hardin
• Global patterns of forest loss and their driversA definitive, data-driven analysis employing satellite imagery to map the global extent and primary drivers of forest loss, offering a crucial empirical foundation for policy.M. C. Hansen et al.

Voices to follow

• Jane Goodall ↗Her foundational research on chimpanzees in Gombe underpins global understanding of biodiversity and the critical importance of preserving forest habitats.Primatologist, anthropologist, UN Messenger of Peace
• Suzanne Simard ↗Her pioneering work on the 'wood wide web' reveals the complex, interconnected communication networks within forests, transforming our understanding of tree ecosystems.Forest ecologist, Professor at the University of British Columbia
• Peter Wohlleben ↗Through accessible prose, he illuminates the hidden lives and social structures of trees, fostering a profound public appreciation for forest intelligence and resilience.Forester, author, environmentalist
• Rhett Butler ↗His independent news platform, Mongabay, offers extensive, data-driven reporting on tropical deforestation, biodiversity threats, and conservation initiatives worldwide.Environmental journalist, founder of Mongabay

Glossary

• AfforestationPlanting new trees in an area where there was no forest before, creating a new forest from scratch. For example, if a government decides to plant trees on a large, empty grassland to create a new green space, that's afforestation.
• BiodiversityThe variety of all living things – plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms – found in a particular place or on Earth. It's about how many different types of life exist. For example, a rainforest has high biodiversity because it's home to countless different species of plants, insects, birds, and mammals.
• Climate ChangeA long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns, mainly caused by human activities that release too many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This leads to things like rising temperatures and more extreme weather. For example, deforestation contributes to climate change because trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and when they're cut down, that carbon is released.
• DeforestationThe clearing of forests, meaning trees are cut down or burned, and the land is then used for other things like farms or buildings. For example, when a large area of jungle is cut down to make space for a cattle ranch, that's deforestation.
• EcosystemA community of living organisms (like plants and animals) interacting with their non-living environment (like soil, water, and air) in a specific area. Everything in an ecosystem is connected. For example, a forest ecosystem includes the trees, animals, insects, soil, and even the rain that falls, all working together.
• ForestA large area of land covered mainly with trees and other plants. It's home to many animals and helps keep our air clean. For example, the Amazon Rainforest is a huge forest that plays a big role in the Earth's climate.
• Greenhouse GasesGases in the Earth's atmosphere that trap heat, like a greenhouse, keeping our planet warm enough to live. However, too many of these gases, like carbon dioxide from burning fuels or cutting down forests, can make the Earth too hot. For example, when trees are burned during deforestation, they release a lot of carbon dioxide, which is a major greenhouse gas.
• Habitat LossWhen the natural home or environment of an animal or plant is destroyed or changed so much that it can no longer live there. Deforestation is a major cause of habitat loss. For example, when a forest is cut down, the monkeys and birds living there lose their homes and food sources.
• LoggingThe process of cutting down trees for wood, which is then used for timber, paper, or fuel. While some logging is done sustainably, illegal or excessive logging is a main cause of deforestation. For example, a company might use large machines to cut down many trees in a forest to sell the wood, which is logging.
• ReforestationThe process of planting new trees in an area where a forest once stood but was cleared, trying to bring the forest back. For example, after a forest fire, volunteers might plant thousands of saplings (young trees) to help the area recover, which is reforestation.
• Sustainable ForestryManaging forests in a way that meets our needs for wood and other products today without harming the forest's ability to provide for future generations. It means cutting trees responsibly and replanting. For example, a company practicing sustainable forestry might only cut down a certain number of trees each year and ensure new ones are planted to replace them.

Threads 5

Where this connects to other fields, and why it's worth knowing.

• Infectious Disease & Pandemics Health

  When we chop down forests, we drag people right up against animals like bats they'd never normally touch. In that new contact zone, viruses jump species and spark outbreaks. Diseases like Ebola and Nipah trace back to exactly that raw edge where the cleared forest meets us.

• Legal Systems Around the World Law

  Weirdly, 'forest' started out as a legal word, not a nature word: it meant land the king locked up so only he could hunt the deer. Regular people fought back over their right to use that land, and England even had a Charter of the Forest, a forgotten cousin of the famous Magna Carta. The word for trees was really a word about who's allowed in.

• Climate Zones and Weather Systems Geography

  The Amazon basically makes its own rain: trees breathe out moisture that drifts as 'flying rivers' and falls as tomorrow's downpour. Chop down too many trees and you switch off that moisture pump. Past a certain point, a rainforest can literally dry out the rainfall that keeps it a rainforest.

• Risk, Failure, and Resilience Business

  If you put out every tiny forest fire, dead wood keeps piling up until one spark becomes an unstoppable inferno. Companies do the same thing: a business that never lets anything small break is secretly stockpiling the fuel for one giant collapse. A few little failures along the way are what keep the big one from ever coming.

• Pandemics Science

  A lot of new diseases come from animals we normally never touch, deep in forests. When we bulldoze those forests and haul wild animals to crowded markets, we shove ourselves right up against germs we were never meant to meet. In a dark way, we manufacture our own pandemics by breaking down the barrier that kept us apart.