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Deforestation in the 21st century

When it comes to cutting down trees, satellite data reveals a shift from the patterns of the past.

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Globally, roughly 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed each year. Such deforestation has long been driven by farmers desperate to earn a living or by loggers building new roads into pristine forest. But now new data appears to show that big, block clearings that reflect industrial deforestation have come to dominate, rather than these smaller-scale efforts that leave behind long, narrow swaths of cleared land. Geographer Ruth DeFries of Columbia University and her colleagues used satellite images to analyse tree-clearing in countries ringing the tropics, representing 98 per cent of all remaining tropical forest. Instead of the usual ‘fish bone' signature of deforestation from small-scale operations, large, chunky blocks of cleared land reveal a new motive for cutting down woods.

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In other words, the increasing urbanisation of the developing world, as populations leave rural areas to concentrate in booming cities, is driving deforestation, rather than containing it. Coupled with this there is an ongoing increase in consumption in the developed world of products that have an impact on forests, whether furniture, shoe leather or chicken feed. ‘One of the really striking characteristics of this century is urbanisation and rapid urban growth in the developing world,’ DeFries says, ‘People in cities need to eat.’ ‘There’s no surprise there,’ observes Scott Poynton, executive director of the Tropical Forest Trust, a Switzerland-based organisation that helps businesses implement and manage sustainable forestry in countries such as Brazil, Congo and Indonesia. ‘It’s not about people chopping down trees. It's all the people in New York, Europe and elsewhere who want cheap products, primarily food.

Is Technology Harming our Children’s Health?

The digital revolution in music has enabled people to download, store and listen to songs on a tiny, portable device called an MP3 player. The process is quick and afterwards you can have access to a library of thousands of songs that can fit into your palm. But experts say that continuously listening to loud music on these small music players can permanently damage hair cells in the inner ear, resulting in hearing loss. For instance, old-fashioned headphones have been replaced with smaller ones that fit neatly into the ear, instead of over them, which intensifies the sound. In addition to that, digital music does not distort and keeps its crystal clear sound, even on loud settings, which encourages children to crank up the volume. Combine that with the fact that many children will spend hours listening to their iPods, and you have the recipe for hearing loss. Put into further perspective, most MP3 players can reach levels of 120 decibels, which is louder than a chainsaw or lawnmower. When you consider 85 decibels is the maximum safe decibel level set by hearing experts over the course of a working day, and that children will listen to music at higher decibel levels than that for long periods of time, hearing will invariably suffer

people are looking for convenience, comfort and privacy ➡ most people still choose their cars ➡ traffic jam

There are many solutions that can be adopted to solve traffic congestion. The first method is called congestion pricing. It means that cities charge a toll to enter certain parts of town at certain times of day. If the toll is high enough, some drivers will cancel their trips or go by bus or train. Examples of this policy can be seen in Singapore, London and Stockholm - cities which have reduced traffic and pollution in city centers thanks to congestion pricing. Another method is for employers to implement flexitime. This lets employees travel to and from work at off-peak traffic times to avoid the rush hour. For those who have to travel during busy times, they can share cars to reduce traffic volume.