It's Time To Become A Tree Hugger
Forests cover about 30 percent of the planet's landmass, but we're cutting them down at a rapid rate.
Between 1990 and 2016, 502,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometres of rainforest have been lost. Over the past 50 years, 17 percent of the Amazon has been destroyed.
'They're only trees, what does it matter?' I hear people say. Well, those trees play an important role in the environment.
A big reason they're so important is because they absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale, as well as the greenhouses gases we pump into the atmosphere.
Forests are home to a majority of the species on land, and some 250 million people who live in savannah and forested areas rely on them for subsistence and income.
If you remove trees, you deprive forests of a canopy. This blocks the sun's rays during the day and retains heat at night. Without a canopy, extreme changes in temperature become the norm affecting the animals and humans who live in the area.
In an ironic twist, a second-order effect of deforestation is the increased chance of future pandemics. As we encroach further and further into the natural world, we make it more and more likely we'll come into contact with novel pathogens which have the potential to cross over to humans.
Given the havoc coronavirus has unleashed on the world during the past year, this should concern us all.
Maintaining a wealth of tree cover on the planet is not only essential for climate mitigation, but it also prevents the likelihood of another pandemic in the near term.
To keep the planet safe for us and the array of wildlife we live alongside, we need to recognise the beauty and importance of forests.
Tree huggers got a bad rep back in the day, but they were right all along. It's time to hug trees, not chop them down.