“A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, they purify the air and give new strength to our people." - Theodore Roosevelt Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Have you ever had that feeling that you can't breathe and that your body is so hot that the air around you is so suffocating? And the branches of your lungs become inflamed so quickly that they begin to deteriorate in the blink of an eye and you become so pale that your body is helpless? The melancholy of the situation is in the Amazon rainforest, one of the largest and most important tropical rainforests in the world, and in fact it is burning right before our eyes. We should feel embarrassed for ourselves for not having any real initiative to stop it. According to National Geographic, forests around the world cover about 30% of the Earth's surface and for decades have provided 20% of the oxygen we breathe. However, so much contamination in the air has broken down the many layers of the atmosphere and oxygen levels have decreased immensely due to deforestation. Deforestation is caused by land clearing as 18.7 million acres of forest are cleared each year by felling and burning trees to create space for agricultural expansion, livestock farming, timber extraction, mining, oil extraction, dam building and infrastructure development are all part of the human activities that provide us with natural resources. This has been going on for decades; historically it has taken us back to ancient times and about half of the world's tropical forests have been cut down to date. How could we let this happen? We don't have to be Einstein to understand that forests play a crucial role in our lives and that they could provide our future generations with a healthy, peaceful and safe home, a place where our children and grandchildren can have happy lives without having to sacrifice so much to survive. Furthermore, 80% of the diverse ecosystems are home to both animal and plant species. Nowadays, there are fewer places on earth where animal species can find food and plants to feed on. Therefore, it forces them to migrate and they experience a lack of adaptation to new environments. What are we waiting for? Do animals have to become extinct in order to understand the gravity of the situation? It has been predicted by National Geographic that we will only have 100 years before deforestation reaches its highest point and when that happens, soil erosion will mean the death of us all. We cannot survive if the land becomes barren and no vegetation remains as a source of food and shelter. Furthermore, we only have 100 years before life is nothing but a lonely world of hunger, in the middle of a vast ocean of war. Furthermore, trees play a vital role in controlling climate change and are the earth's source of life. Likewise, trees are a protective blanket that protects us from the sun's harmful rays and provides us with shelter when it rains outside. Furthermore, they absorb 2.5 tons of global carbon dioxide. Deforestation, however, is responsible for 15% of carbon emissions and the release of toxic greenhouse gases such as methane and sulfur, among others, into the air and then into the atmosphere when forests are razed. If we wait for deforestation to eat away at the earth to the point of irrevocable destruction, we can expect an apocalypse in no time. If globalization in countries like Mexico reduced emissions caused by high production demand in factories....