It seems impossible for us, as individuals, to have an impact on massive environmental issues such as climate change or deforestation, and we continue to ask ourselves, whyrecycle or why plant a tree? So why don’t you imagine what would happen if your whole school, village or community took action.
The biggest impact on global issues lies within governments’ power, but there is also the cumulative effects of everyone contributing in any way they can, however small. If we unite against climate change, our solo, day-to-day activities can have a universal impact.
Eating beef drives deforestation as forests are cut down for grazing. Flying on an aeroplane drives temperature increase as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide are released into the atmosphere. Planting a tree mitigates some of these negative effects on climate change. This might not be felt by you, but by the communities relying on the forests, or by your neighbour whose home has been flooded due to sea levels rising, or your grandchildren who are seeing worldwide temperatures stabilise for the first time in 100 years.
Climate Change acting as a carbon sink, 44.2 million people across the globe have a job in or related to the forest sector and eighty percent of the world's land-based species live in forests.
In 2014 the New York Declaration on Forests was signed at the UN. This required countries to halve deforestation by 2020 and restore 150 million hectares of deforested or degraded forest land. This hasn't happened. The rate of tree cover loss has gone Deforestation is having an enormous global impact. Forests cover 31% of worldwide land area, and are critical for the climate, the economy and biodiversity of the planet. Forests mitigate climb up by 43% in the last 5 years, while tropical primary forests are being cut down at a rate of 4.3 million hectares a year.
The scale of global deforestation seems overwhelming, so what can we do? Is this a failure on the part of global governments? Have the governments responsible for the biggest forests on the planet - the Amazon, the Congo rainforest, Kinabalu National Park, Tongass forest in North America - failed? Is it us who have failed? It is all of us. Individuals, communities, regions, and countries all need to work together. Deforestation is a global issue and needs to be tackled globally. So, plant a tree, protect a tree, recycle paper and cardboard, lobby your governments. The answer to the question, how can one person influence global climate change, is do something, anything, just make sure that it is not nothing.
By Sophie Hamnett
Environmentalist and Volunteer with the Schools Tree Project