A Greener World No More I went back to my village last week and decided to go into the nearby forest.

To my surprise, the forest was nowhere to be found. Instead, standing in its place now is a construction site with heavy machines doing ground works for a proposed new housing area. This is quite a common scenario nowadays, where by many lands are being cleared for development. This act is fast depleting us of our most valuable treasure, the trees. What causes the destruction of trees? It can be divided into two main causes; natural and man made. !ne e"ample of the natural cause of the destruction of trees is wildfires. #ases of wildfires increase especially during dry seasons. The forests become dry. The forest$s floors are full with dry foliage from the trees during this particular season. %mall trees can even dry up, wither and even die because lack of water. &uring this period, if inconsiderate people drop a lit match or a burning cigarette, it can trigger a wildfire and can even wipe out the whole forest' (nother natural cause for the destruction of trees are tsunamis. Tsunamis are giant wave occurring due to the build up of intense pressure to the earth after an earthquake. It was reported that after the great tsunami of )**+ that struck parts of the (sian continent, thousands of acres of forest were destroyed. Trees which survived the hit eventually die due to the high rate of moisture and disease in the soil. ,uman activities that cause deforestations are mainly due to development and farming. -ew lands are needed to cater food demand for the ever growing world population. Trees had to be cut down to make way for farms and to breed animals for food. (part from that, these lands will also be cleared to make housing areas and other development pro.ects. What happens to a world without trees? (s we know, trees balance out our ecosystem by converting carbon dio"ide to o"ygen during photosynthesis. /ack of trees causes carbon dio"ide to be abundant and thus causing an imbalance in the components of gases in the atmosphere. It will eventually increase the earth$s temperature which is now known as the green house effect or global warming. Irregular changes in the world$s climate and the melting of the ice caps in both poles are the effects of global warming. If we don$t act now, further increase in the earth$s temperature will cause the world to be flooded due to the melting ice caps. (nother effect from the lack of trees is pollution. %ince trees are being cut down for development, there are no more natural filters to soak up all the to"ic fumes and waste being emitted to the atmosphere. 0ore and more chemicals are being released causing more trees to die. The environment is fast becoming unsafe and unhealthy to all its inhabitants, which includes us humans. %o what should we do to stop this from happening? It really starts from within us. 1irstly, we have to instill awareness for the betterment of out habitat. (s creatures with the ability to reason and the capability to make change we should reali2e that we are only destroying the one and only planet we can call

home. 3ach of us should have an appreciation towards the trees, the land and the rivers. %top polluting and start replanting trees. We should plant trees at the same rate we fell them. 3ach household should plant several trees around their residence and educate their children on the importance trees and a clean environment. (nother easy step to take is by recycling papers. ,undred and thousands of trees are being cut down to be processed into paper. 0ake sure you have used both side of the paper before recycling. Insist on recycled paper products and instead of gift wrapping a present, a simple bow with ribbons would be enough. It really is the thought that counts anyway. 4ou can always send emails or messages then sending greeting cards or letters. 0ake sure you recycle all the old newspaper in your backyard shed rather than burning them' With only these small steps, if all of us work together, I really believe we can make a positive impact towards a better future for our world.