HOW DEFORESTATION INCREASES GLOBAL WARMING.

When trees are burned or cut down the CO2they had stored escapes back into the air which means the less forests, the fewer plants to convert CO2 into oxygen. Trees cut down for building do not contribute this CO2 and the process continues if those trees cut down are replanted. This, in this case it helps the issue of global warming.

Global warming is caused by an elevation in the green house gases that halo our planet. Atmospheric gases such as water vapor, CO2, methane, and ozone are responsible for impeding the loss of heat away from the Earth. The concentration of these particular gases, directly dictate the universal temperature found on Earth. Thus the effect of global warming is further exacerbated by deforestation because the removal of densely forested areas decreases the number of the CO2 consuming vegetation.

Photosynthetic organisms, such as plants, undergo a "carbon fixing" cycle which utilizes atmospheric carbon dioxide and synthesizes it into metabolic intermediates (such as carbohydrates). Indirectly, deforestation disrupts the delicate balance between the carbon dioxide produced and consumed. An increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide, along with other green house gases, leads to an increase in the global temperature.

Two interesting things to point out on this issue:

Man produces a small portion of CO2 (about 6% of the total and 0.28% of all green house gas). The number, density and overall acres of forest have increased for the past century in North America by thousands of acres. We even define a forest more densely today than we did in historical times. We have doubled the board feet in a given acre to be called a forest.

Destroying forests reduces the earth's ability to absorb airborne carbon. Trees as well as water, ice etc absorb carbon that is in the air. The fewer trees there are, the less there are to absorb carbon. This would lead to more carbon in the air from man-made and natural sources. More and more is released all the time and less is reabsorbed into "contained" sources such as trees and water. If we stop deforestation by 50%, it will stop 500 billion tons of CO2 going to the atmosphere!!!