Is deforestation the main cause of global warming?

Question

Humans tend to cut down trees and use the land for agriculture. This has been happening for thousands of years. Is this the real cause of global warming? Are gas guzzlers and coal power plants just salt in the wound, causing pain and blame? But the wound would still be fatal without them?

If this is the case, why is the world so focused on such pain and blame, and not focused on the real cause, and what to do about it? Can't we somehow undo the effects of deforestation?

What would happen if every city and county were to plant hundreds or thousands of giant redwood trees? In WWII people had victory gardens. Why can't we use the same principle as victory gardens to have clean air parks? Millions of parks around the world with land devoted to reversing global warming by consuming carbon dioxide and replacing it with oxygen? Whatever plants grow best in each climate and contribute the most oxygen.

Would this make sense? Or what don't I understand?

"It's a combination of causes" is clearly not a good answer, because it's already known and assumed, and doesn't even address the question. The question is not "what are the causes" but rather "what is the main cause" and "what can we do about that main cause".

Answers such as "emissions are a bigger cause than deforestation" need some kind of support or references, because, if they were obvious, the question would not be asked.

The answer posted by Nickel Johann giving the flowchart http://cait.wri.org/figures/World-FlowChart.jpg
is an eye-opener. If nobody can post any data to refute those figures, that answer is the most enlightening yet.

"If 90% of the planet would be forests and oceans" is an interesting hypothesis, but it seems to me it would imply a much lower world population, with a lot less industry and agriculture. But even with the same population and the same amount of pollution as now, would it really be correct? How much effect does each square mile of ocean have, vs each square mile of forest? If the amount of forest increased, but the oceans stayed the same, as they probably would no matter how much reforestation we did, and we kept reforesting till 90% of the planet's surface was either ocean or forest, would that really not be enough to overcome our present carbon dioxide production?

Answer 1

OK, I answer only your first line (the real question)

with a real reliable answer from the World Resource Institute:

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PLEASE EVERYONE, CHECK THIS
http://cait.wri.org/figures/World-FlowChart.jpg
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Answer 2

Deforestation is not the major source of anthropogenic carbon. There is no getting around the numbers that show that use of fossil fuels over the last couple hundred years have been the main source, and this carbon is the significant cause of the global climate changes. 70 million barrels of petroleum a day. Millions of tons of coal, and natural gas....

Deforestation is a secondary source of carbon dioxide. It would be good to encourage forests, but the main benefit would be water resource improvement and biodiversity protection. Those are important issues....

Answer 3

There is no one cause to global warming. That is why it is such a hard problem to solve. We cannot merely stop doing one thing, and thereby stop global warming. Planting trees, however, is a great way to help. They take in CO2 and beautify unused space. But we still need to cut down on our carbon production. Planting trees, then driving a SUV will not do anything. We all should plant trees, but after we do that, we cannot become complacent and forget that we are still making this "wound" bigger, and we have to start healing it, not just stopping its growth.

Answer 4

It makes much sense and we couldn't definitely use the trees in places where trees have enough water. We live in an area where it would be nonsense as our main source of water is drying up and evacation plans are slated for 2009. The Global warming situation is because the Ozone layer has been depleted and we need to stop that. Due to this, glaciers are melting and this excess water can take out coastlines and even Island nations. But you are right. Planting trees is healthy and gives us good oxygen to breathe.

Answer 5

Dihydrogen Monoxide is a much more potent greenhouse gas than Carbon Dioxide, Dihydrogen Monoxide content in the atmosphere can go so far as 4 percent.

Both Dihydrogen Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide are created more by non-human sources than ones from human sources, they both are also used by plants to photosynthesis.

Gas guzzlers and coal power plants created food for the plants, but volcanos outbeat them in food producing for the plants.

Plants (both forest and agricultural ones) thrives in a rich Dihydrogen Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide enviroment, but they don't do so good in an enviroment lacking of Dihydrogen Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide.

It should be noted new plants need a lot Dihydrogen Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide than old plants, new plants need them to both grow and survive while old ones just only need them to survive. So old rainforest will be doing less oxygen producing than new agricultural plants created by humans.



As for salt on the wounds.

Salt are used as medicine on the wounds to disinfect them, and yes, using medicine can cause pain.

Answer 6

There are many causes and not a one of them should be
ignored. Deforestation is one major cause but big lumber
company's will disagree.
We can plant trees in our yards. Nut trees and fruit trees
are always a good choice. If you are renting get permission
from the landlord. We as individuals can do little to stop the
use of fossil fuels. Most all of us can plant trees. Get some
seeds and stick them in the ground. No digging.

Answer 7

It is one of them. But not the only one. Even if 90% of the planet would be forests and oceans, it would not be enough.

Main cause is GHG emissions.

Answer 8

Actually its a combination of human made factors that are the causes of global warming. Its not just deforestation.

Answer 9

Apart from the greenhouse effect? None, the earth would be frozen solid if it were not for greenhouse gases