How to Celebrate World Wildlife Day by Preventing Deforestation
By Elora Derbyshire
By Elora Derbyshire
World Wildlife Day is coming up on March 3, and the 2021 theme is "Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet", meaning that forest ecosystems, which cover about 30% of the planet, are beneficial to the organisms that live in them as well as humans. Sadly, due to deforestation, Earth’s rainforests could be completely gone within a century.
This contributes to climate change; when trees are cut-down, stored carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, around 20% of annual greenhouse gas emissions across the world are caused by tropical deforestation. Here are a few ways that you can celebrate World Wildlife Day this year, by helping to prevent deforestation.
Use Recycled Paper Products, then Recycle them!
By buying items made from recycled paper, you are reducing the number of trees that are cut-down to make paper products, as well as the amount of waste in land-fills. You can also do this by making sure that you always recycle recyclable paper products if they don’t have food-waste or other contaminants on them. (Paper can be recycled around 5 to 7 times). Recycling just one ton of paper prevents about 17 trees from being cut-down, which can sequester about 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, every year.
Reduce Your Meat Consumption
Around 70% of trees that are cut-down in the Amazon Rainforest are cut-down to clear space for cattle ranches. By reducing the amount of meat that you consume, or becoming vegetarian, you can decrease the demand for meat, helping to prevent further deforestation for this reason.
Raise Awareness
According to the United Nations, international days are opportunities to educate the Public about an issue or cause. You can raise awareness for deforestation by telling your friends and family about its effects on the environment and what they can do -- even if it's something small -- to make a difference.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-wildlife-day(Image)
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/forests/solutions-to-deforestation/
https://youmatter.world/en/5-steps-to-stop-deforestation/
https://greentumble.com/15-strategies-to-reduce-deforestation/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/deforestation
This contributes to climate change; when trees are cut-down, stored carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, around 20% of annual greenhouse gas emissions across the world are caused by tropical deforestation. Here are a few ways that you can celebrate World Wildlife Day this year, by helping to prevent deforestation.
Use Recycled Paper Products, then Recycle them!
By buying items made from recycled paper, you are reducing the number of trees that are cut-down to make paper products, as well as the amount of waste in land-fills. You can also do this by making sure that you always recycle recyclable paper products if they don’t have food-waste or other contaminants on them. (Paper can be recycled around 5 to 7 times). Recycling just one ton of paper prevents about 17 trees from being cut-down, which can sequester about 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, every year.
Reduce Your Meat Consumption
Around 70% of trees that are cut-down in the Amazon Rainforest are cut-down to clear space for cattle ranches. By reducing the amount of meat that you consume, or becoming vegetarian, you can decrease the demand for meat, helping to prevent further deforestation for this reason.
Raise Awareness
According to the United Nations, international days are opportunities to educate the Public about an issue or cause. You can raise awareness for deforestation by telling your friends and family about its effects on the environment and what they can do -- even if it's something small -- to make a difference.
Sources:
https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-wildlife-day(Image)
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/forests/solutions-to-deforestation/
https://youmatter.world/en/5-steps-to-stop-deforestation/
https://greentumble.com/15-strategies-to-reduce-deforestation/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/deforestation