{"id":1161,"date":"2021-05-06T08:08:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T08:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2022-07-04T11:33:29","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T11:33:29","slug":"when-a-tree-falls-it-makes-more-than-a-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatetransform.com\/when-a-tree-falls-it-makes-more-than-a-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"When a Tree Falls It Makes More Than a Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
Everyone has heard the philosophical thought experiment, \u2018if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?\u2019. It raises questions about reality, perception and observation. But, modern deforestation also has serious everyday repercussions. Cutting trees down creates many more disturbances than sound alone.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Trees produce oxygen which we need to breathe.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Rainforests alone account for 28 per cent of the oxygen in the atmosphere.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Oxygen is released when plants create their food through photosynthesis. In the process, they also pull carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This is important because CO2 in the atmosphere is the primary long-lived cause of global warming. In fact, it is the main greenhouse gas that prevents heat from escaping Earth into space. Alarmingly, humans have increased the atmospheric concentration of CO2 by 47 per cent since the Industrial Revolution.<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The average temperature of our planet has risen by 1\u00b0C as a result.<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Trees provide an important counterbalance to this. They store some of the carbon they absorb<\/a> from the air in their wood. Furthermore, a significant amount is also sequestered in the surrounding soil.<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This can keep it from the atmosphere for centuries. For instance, the remaining intact Amazon rainforest currently soaks up between five and 10 per cent of human CO2 emissions.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Cutting down trees may or may not make a sound if there is no one to hear it. Yet, it certainly releases the carbon stored in the trees. Whether the trees are burned or left to rot, deforestation inevitably creates carbon emissions.<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhy is deforestation bad?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n