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Glossary of Terms

Deforestation
This occurs when people cut down forests and use the land for other purposes. For example, in Brazil the rainforest is logged (often illegally), the remaining vegetation is burned, and the land is often turned into fields to grow soy. An acreage of rainforest approximately the size of Connecticut disappears every year, and the loss displaces indigenous peoples, drives many species to extinction, and creates huge problems with erosion.

Deforestation also contributes significantly to climate change – burning trees release CO2 into the atmosphere, disturbed soils lose their ability to capture carbon, and there are no trees or other vegetation left to remove CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

Forests provide valuable carbon sinks – the atmosphere depends on forest to help carry out its role in the carbon cycle.
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The energy requirements of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings produce approximately 43 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
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