Today we finally finished all the tests on the democrat/republican thing and tomorrow we start our Latin America quizes. I decided to work on our project; our group has deforestation so I started to get some info on it. One of the main reasons for deforestation is overpopulation, and often this is because some people own land but as cities expand and the population continues to grow they get forced off that land. These landless peasants then move to the forests to find land for their homes. They use slash and burn methods to clear the land which is basically cutting down the trees, burning them, and then using the ash to fertilize the soil. The soil that is cleared in this technique is often infertile and any nutrient it retains are quickly absorbed by other organisms. This infertile soil often causes the farmers to move on to a new area and kill more trees. This is a major problem in many 3rd world countries and also south american countries. The forests have global implications not just on life but on the quality of it. Trees improve the quality of the air that species breath by trapping carbon and other particles produced by pollution. Trees determine rainfall and replenish the atmosphere. As more water gets put back in the atmosphere, clouds form and provide another way to block out the sun's heat. Trees are what cool and regulates the earth's climate in conjunction with other such valuable services as preventing erosion, landslides, and making the most infertile soil rich with life. Deforestation is the cutting down of trees that are not replenished in any way.
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