Debate: THBT we should plant more trees.

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This House believes that we should plant more trees

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Background and Context of Debate:

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Current issues

• Every year millions of millions of trees are cut down to meet the soaring need for paper and tree related products, while the problem of global warming is severe. Two thirds of people all over the world are victims of global warming, either directly or indirectly affected by this kind of climate change. One of the factor contributes to global warming is the shrinking area of trees. Planting trees is a good solution of problems presented previously. So this house believes that we should plant more trees.

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Definitions

Plant: to place seeds of trees or young trees in (land); More: at least 1 billion trees per year; Tree: A perennial woody plant having a main trunk and usually a distinct crown.

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Values/Standards

To help to reduce negative impact of global warming

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Decreasing of forest area

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Yes

The decreasing of forest area contributes to global warming which has many negative impacts to the world. Every year tens of millions of trees are cut down to meet the increasing need of wood related products such as paper, furniture and construction material. About half of the mature tropical rainforests, between 750 to 800 million hectares of the original 1.5 to 1.6 billion hectares that once graced the planet have already been felled. Trees absorb carbon dioxide which is the main kind of green house gas and produce oxygen. The process is call photosynthesis. Decreasing of forest area will lead to the falling capacity of photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide accumulation increases conscientiously along with the problem of global warming.'

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No

The decreasing of forest area is not the main cause of global warming. Fire power plants and automobiles all over the world emit huge amount of green house gases every day. The effective way to fight against global warming is to reduce emission of green house gases by using and developing alternative energies and restrict the number of automobiles. '

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The better choice to fighting against global warming

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Yes

• Planting trees is an efficient and mostly easy way which is helpful to solve the problem of global warming. It costs billions of dollars to change the energy structure of current society which mainly depends on fossil fuels. Nuclear power plant is efficient but has many side-effects. France government has stopped the plan to have more nuclear power plant. The potential harms of nuclear power plant are still detrimental. The case of three Mile and Chernobyl proves this point. Nowadays, still overwhelming majority of the world electricity supply is from coal fire power plant. Canada and Britain already have their tree planting programs. Take the example of Illinois. Since the nuclear program beginning, nuclear power has cost this country over $492,000,000,000, which is nearly twice the cost of the Viet Nam War and the Apollo Moon Missions combined. But it takes comparatively less money to plant trees. The cost for hand planting can be $300.00 to $450.00 per acre. The cost for machine planting is $250.00 to $350.00 per acre. So planting trees is a practical way to reduce the green house effect.

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No

The need of wood related products is still increasing. Simple planting trees do not make sense. Encouraging people to save paper and other methods should also be implemented. Many no-cost electricity saving tips recommended are:

Lighting: Turn the lights off when leaving a room. Use "task" lighting rather than whole room lighting when a small amount of light is required. Regularly clean light fittings, reflectors and lampshades.

Computer: Configure your computer to "energy saving" mode in which it will automatically change to the state of low consumption. Switching off the screen can save even more than just letting the screen saver run. Turning your computer off at night instead of leaving it on will save on average 25% of its annual energy bill. Remember you should turn off your computer whenever you are not going to use it for more than an hour.

Television: A television in standby mode can use up to as much as half the electricity as when it is switched on.

Washing Machines: The washing cycle selected on a washing machine should have the lowest water temperature required for the items being washed. A full load of washing is more energy efficient that two half loads. Use a cold rinse for your clothes.

Japan has had lunched its energy saving plan in February this year, as one of the most efficient global warming countermeasures. Successful example of energy can be seen in New Zealand.

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Potential issue

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Yes

There are many advantages of tree planting. Planting trees is a kind of pleasant work. In the long run, trees will continue to benefit people in the future.

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No

It is pleasant, but it does not necessarily mean that we should do it. It would be much more beneficial if we stopped using paper.

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Pro/con sources

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Yes

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No

See also

• Debate: Is climate change chiefly human-caused?
• Debate: Reforestation as a solution to global warming
• Debate: Ban on logging

External links

• "L'homme qui plantait des arbres" - "The man who planted trees" - A story about a man who devoted his life to re-foresting a desolate valley (IMDB)
• "The man who planted trees" - more info about the tale on Wikipedia
• Tree Planting Lesson Plan by Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests
• Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign - a worldwide tree-planting campaign by the UNEP
• Pakistan Plants Half Million Trees in One Day, Breaks Guinness World Record -Derek Markham, Green Options, July 16, 2009
• Tree Planting Costs
• Treeplanting at Answers.com
• GlobalWarming.net
• Fossil Fuel Consumption and its Implications - Thomas Damassa, World Resources Institute, November 12, 2006
• http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0415-23.htm
• http://www.neis.org/literature/Brochures/npfacts.htm
• http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/govt+welcomes+10+electricity+savings+achievement