why is deforestation such a problem?

source: https://www.pexels.com

The majority of the world is very aware that deforestation is a problem. However, most of the time it is brushed aside in order to deal with all the other issues that our world is dealing with. In my opinion, if we could solve our deforestation problem, we could also solve some of the other pressing issues that are currently happening in the world. One question I keep thinking to myself is, why is deforestation so bad? Can't we just plant more trees? But in my research, I found that it is so much more than just planting some more trees. 

According to Live Science, "about half the forests have already been cleared" so far. That's 30% of the worlds land mass! (national geographic) We are destroying the only planet we have to live on! Soon all the trees we cut down to make paper and other goods wont matter in the slightest because we will literally all be dead. Another shocking statistic I found was this: "since the last century, Indonesia has lost at least 15.79 million hectares of forest land, according to a study by the University of Maryland." So many people, animals, and plants have lost their lives so we could have some paper. 

In my opinion, cutting down the only supply of trees we have should not be happening. Deforestation should be stopped immediately. This modern era we live in could easily be sustained by going paperless. Not to mention the amount of money, lives, and opportunity cost we would save.