Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Illegal logging make the forest shrink

The Amazon forest is good for the eyes and more for the health. That’s why we need to keep our forest in good condition. The governments around the world are facing this illegal logging problem. People are still doing this illegal logging, even though they are breaking the law. Illegal logging’s definition is cutting trees and timber without government authorization. They cut down the trees because they want to make money by selling it to some other country. ”Amazon tree-cutting reached its highest level in decades, according to statistics released by the government two weeks ago. Last year, more than 10,000 square miles were cut down” (Reel, 2005, para. 8). We can see that the government is trying to stop illegal logging, but it is still going on. Forest is nature and they should appreciate it.

These are ways that we need to take to stop illegal logging. First, we should give everyone an education to learn about illegal logging. Next, we should find the roads that they use for illegal logging and block them. Similarly, we should tighten the law by punishing them really strictly. Finally, make them think about the future.

An education is the most important thing in our life. So, if we teach the younger people how to protect our forest, maybe they will follow what they learn. For instance, when we teach our kids, it is easier to teach them compared to the older ones, because the kids will listen but the old ones sometimes will not. But we need to provide a class for the old people too. This is because we need to tell them about the problem we are facing right now illegal logging. Also, we need to do a class in college about the environment and make everyone take that class, even though some people don’t like that class. It can change some things around us by giving them an education.

If they want to do illegal logging they need a road to steal the trees. So, if we block the road we can stop them from doing illegal logging. One way is find the road and if the road is found, destroy it. They cannot enter the place anymore, so they won’t do logging. We also can use a satellite to track down the people doing illegal logging in the forest because satellite can see from on top of the forest. After we know, we can catch them and put them in jail. This will slow it down or stop it.

Illegal logging is an action that breaks the law. Therefore, the law will take action if they get caught. The loggers also know that they are breaking the rules, but they still do it. If the law get tightened maybe they will get scared. For example, punish them with $100,000 fine and 10 years in jail if they get caught. The loggers will think twice before they want to start illegal logging. This is because the punishment is so heavy that they don’t want to take the risk doing it. In “Illegal logging threatens 98 percent loss of Southeast Asian rainforests by 2022 –UN” the author said that the habitat of tens of thousands of endangered orangutans has been threatened (2007). This is because illegal logging disturbed many things in the forest. Illegal logging needs to be stopped.

My opponents said that they don’t care about illegal logging. Abetz (2006) said that “PNG governments had turned a blind eye to illegal logging”. This argument is simply wrong because they don’t think about the future. Do they think about their kids future? If they just ignore illegal logging, there will be more of these actions happening. The oxygen will be less and less; this is coming in the future. Also, global warming will occur and the greenhouse effect. This will make our world hard to live in.

In conclusion, these are some of the ways to prevent illegal logging: give everyone an education about illegal logging, block the road that they use for illegal logging, tighten the law by punishing them really badly, and make them think about the future. This action needs to be stopped so that we can live in a better world.

Reference
Government ignoring illegal logging. (2006, June 28). PacNews (Pacific Island News Service). Retrieved on November 8, 2007, from Lexis Nexis.
Illegal logging threatens 98 pct loss of Southeast Asian rainforests by 2022 –UN. (2007, February 6). AFX International Focus. Retrieved on November 8, 2007, from Lexis Nexis.
Reel, M. (2005, June 12). As Amazon crops grow, a forest shrinks. The Washington Post. Retrieved on October 23, 2007. from Lexis Nexis.

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