Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What is sustainability essay
The essay of sustainability
What is sustainability essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: What is sustainability essay
When speaking about the sustainability of forests, sustainability itself must first be defined. The concept of sustainability is not easily defined in a single sentence or even in several sentences. As quoted by Steve Nix (n.d.), the British Columbia Forest Service defines sustainability as the integration of 3 elements, the environment, the economy and the social system, into a single system that can be maintained in a healthy state indefinitely. To achieve and maintain this delicate balance, many different factors within those 3 elements are required to work together in unison. With so many factors working toward creating a balance there would ultimately be factors working against and threatening the balance of sustainability. The temperate forest biome is home to most of the world’s industrialized nations including the United States, Canada, China and Russia. In this biome, there are three main threats to the sustainability of forests: overuse, pollution and the sustained use of traditional methods. As with many elements in nature, these three threats are both significant individually and also interconnected.
In the modern industrial age, everything is about making a profit. Manufacturers of consumer products strive to maximize their production of products at the same time reduce the cost of production. Because most of the world’s industrialized nations are populated in the temperate mixed forest biome, the actions of these manufacturers directly impact and threat the sustainability of forests on a much larger scale than most other parts of the world. Manufacturers find the cheapest and easiest way to obtain energy and raw materials for production. Because alternative sustainable sources of energy are more expensive, manufactu...
... middle of paper ...
...ilable at: [Accessed 25 October 2010]
Ontario Nature, 2010. Threats to the Boreal Forest. [online] Available at: [Accessed 27 October 2010]
Hanlon, et al., n.d. Endgame Dealing with Decline. [online] Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Available at: [Accessed 27 October 2010]
A. et al., 1998. Shades of Green: Earth’s Forests. [online] Available at: [Accessed 25 October 2010]
Government of Ontario, 2010. Landfills, Garbage, Incinerators, Recycling and Composting. [online] Available at: [Accessed Nov 15 2010]
Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter (drug war facts, Page 1).
He was recently appointed as editor for the On Sustainability which is one collection of 77 international journals published by Common Ground Publishing. The has served as an advisor to the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable. Development, is a member of the OpenSpace Research Centre (Open University 's (OU) Centre for Geographical and Environmental Research). The OU is a virtual campus based in Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The vast knowledge this author possesses will assist in writing a fact-based
When trying to figure out what the greatest threat to the forests of British Columbia are, you could come up with many concepts. Such as forests fires, urbanization, deforestation etc. but is that really the most significant threat to them. One could argue each point but for my paper, I will focus on something you maybe didn’t even think of, mountain pine beetles. Gibson, K., Kegley, S. & Bentz, B. (2009), defined the mountain pine beetles as part of the insect species; in more detail they are called ‘bark beetles.’ They attach on to the under part of the bark of their host trees and live their whole life there (Gibson et al., 2009). There have been outbreaks in the past in British Columbia, mostly in the interior forests, where this has lead
Governments in these countries need to stop thinking of forests as a renewable resource. The rate at which they are harvesting these areas drives them beyond the boundaries of sustainability. The efforts required by reforestation may not initially be cost effective, but it will result in not only the survivability of the environment, but of the country’s economy. Widespread awareness of these ideas will help fight against the natural human tendency towards instant gratification and short-term goals. Different methods of logging can be utilized to allow the rainforests to survive and regrow naturally and at a sustainable
A very important issue tied to Canada’s future sustainability is that of recycling. There is currently a shortage of suitable landfill spaces in Canada, and the current landfills produce harmful emissions (Statistics Canada, 2008). Using methods to divert as many of these wastes away from landfills will help to slow their growth and improve Canada’s future outlook. Recycling is one such method.
As long as humans have lived in forested areas, they have cut down trees for lumber and/or to clear space for agricultural purposes. However, this practice has resulted in the destruction and near extinction of our national forests. Today, fewer than five percent of our country's original forests remain (Thirteen) and the U.S. Forest Service continues to allow more than 136,000 square miles to be logged each year (Byrant). Even more alarming, is the fact that only twenty percent of the current public forest lands are permanently protected by law, leaving nearly eighty percent to be consumed by chainsaws and bulldozers (Heritage...).
Forests are basically a complex mix of living things such as animals, trees, shrubs, plants, fungi, and many more, as they cover about 40% of Canada’s land. As forests play an important role in this complex community, as we need those to survive to build shelter, food for animals, and most important is fresh air.
One of the most predominate ecosystems is the forest community. Covering about one-fourth of the land area on Earth, forests consist mainly of trees and other woody vegetation, growing closely together. The trees can be large and densely packed, as they are in the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest, or they can be relatively small and sparsely scattered, as they are in the dry tropical forests of sub-Saharan Africa. Forests are complex ecosystems that also include “soils and decaying organic matter, fungi and bacteria, herbs and shrubs, vines and lichens, ferns and mosses, insects and spiders, reptiles and amphibians, birds and mammals, and many other organisms” (Audesirk, 2003). All of these components constitute an intricate web with many biological interconnections. A bird may depend on the upper branches of a tree for nesting, while the tree may depend on the fungi surrounding its roots to obtain water and nutrients. A forest performs a number of vital environmental services, such as cleansing the air, moderating the climate, filtering water, cycling nutrients, providing a habitat for animals and provides humans with recreation and beautiful scenery. Resources from the forest supply raw materials, such as lumber, paper products, greenery and pharmaceuticals. Some of the developing issues today concerning forests are fires and what we as a society can do to restore the natural ecosystems within the forests around our world. Many aspects are to be considered when looking at the ecology and bioremediation of forests such as, human activities, wildlife, endangerment and environmental changes. This paper will discuss the effect wildfires have on the forest ecosystem.
Forests play a hugely significant role on planet Earth. They act as "Earth's lungs." (WWF, n.d.) These "lungs" purify the air trapped in the atmosphere and are positively involved in the daily lives of all living things. However, the environment's harmful cigarette, deforestation, permanently removes the forest cover from an area and transforms that previously forested land to other uses. Deforestation is the primary cause of losing these valuable forests and it is occurring at an unimaginably rapid pace. According to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), "The lungs of the planet are increasingly being likened to those of a heavy smoker." (WWF, n.d.) Specifically relating to deforestation, there is a rare rainforest that is known as the "largest coastal temperate rainforest on the planet." (The Nature Conservancy, 2014) This rainforest is 6.4 million hectares and it stretches along the coast of British Columbia. (Bethel, 2014) It is the Great Bear Rainforest. It has a variety of grizzly bears, salmon, and timber trees. However, deforestation in the ecosystem of the Great Bear Rainforest has resulted in the adverse environmental impact of biodiversity loss to bear, fish, and plant, species.
Taking wood from rainforests and old-growth forests is detrimental to the environment and society. However, it is possible for us to have sustainable wood if we make an effort.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
Though deforestation has increased at an alarming rate throughout the past fifty years, deforestation has been performed during the course of history. According to the World Resources Institute, a majority of the world’s enduring naturally occurring forests are found in Alaska, Canada, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon. Research has demonstrated forests are more likely to be destroyed and repurposed where economic revenues tied to agriculture and pasture are prominent, typically attributed to advantageous weather conditions, or lower expenses of demolishing the forest and delivering merchandises to the global
since the beginning of time. Man has been destroying trees for the use of wood for
These cause a great deal of damage to the forests because more trees have to be removed again to mine this merchandise. Brazil is once again a prime example of forest destruction. The population of poor shanty towns are being encouraged by the governments to move to the forested area. This once again means the felling of trees. You can work out that only 1 of the forests in the world is being destroyed by humans in so many
Salim, Emil and Ullsten, Ola. Our Forests, Our Future. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1999.