Climate Change:  
Deforestation in The Tropics
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Introduction

At first glance you might ask, "What does deforestation have to do with climate change". It might suprise you to find out that they have a lot to do with each other. The tropical rainforests on earth are very dense and can hold untold amounts of moisture. This moisture gets distributed throughout the globe by rainclouds. When the trees in the rainforest get cut down by 100,000 acres at a time this reduces the amount of rain throughout the globe causing droughts and many other problems. This webquest is designed to give more information on the topics of deforestation and climate change and offer some solutions to the problem.



    Climate change - any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an
    extended period (decades or longer). Climate change may result from:
    • natural factors, such as changes in the sun's intensity or slow changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun;
    • natural processes within the climate system (e.g. changes in ocean circulation);
    • human activities that change the atmosphere's composition (e.g. through burning fossil fuels) and the land surface (e.g. deforestation, reforestation, urbanization, desertification, etc.)

    Global warming - an average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface and in the troposphere,         which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns. Global warming can occur from a variety of causes, both natural and     human induced. In common usage, "global warming" often refers to the warming that can occur as a result of increased emissions     of greenhouse gases from human activities.

    Deforestation - Those practices or processes that result in the conversion of forested lands for non-forest uses.  This is often         cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect for two reasons: 1) the burning or decomposition of the wood     releases carbon dioxide; and 2) trees that once removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the process of photosynthesis         are no longer present.

    Greenhouse Effect - Trapping and build-up of heat in the atmosphere (troposphere) near the Earth’s surface. Some of the heat     flowing back toward space from the Earth's surface is absorbed by water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and several other gases     in the atmosphere and then reradiated back toward the Earth’s surface. If the atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse         gases rise, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will gradually increase.

                                    Information from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/glossary.html