1. By: Ms. P Linson August 28th 2014 Ms.linson@inwood52.org
Deforestation
By: Ms. P Linson
August 28th 2014

2. PPA Summary
The Public Policy Analyst (PPA) is designed to help students to maximize their participation in government as responsible citizens. As a public policy analyst, you and your class will develop the following policy skills, learning how to:
Identify the nature of a social problem
Gather evidence to support the existence of the problem
Determine the causes and factors contributing to the problem

3. Step 1: Defining the Problem
The problem that needs to be addressed is deforestation in our forests.

4. Step 2: Gathering Evidence
“Deforestation and Degradation:
Despite their immense value, nearly half of the world’s forests have been lost. What’s worse, we’re cutting them down at greater rates each year to plant crops, graze cattle and generate income from timber and other forest products.”

5. Gathering Evidence “Climate Change:
When forests are cleared, they emit CO2 back into the atmosphere and put humanity on a dangerous collision course with the worst of climate change. Deforestation accounts for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans — comparable to the emissions from all of the cars and trucks on Earth combined.”

6. Gathering Evidence “Empty forests:
More than half of all tropical protected areas may be “empty forests” — containing trees but few animals as a result of overexploitation and uncontrolled hunting. As a result, animal species are in danger of extinction, tree species lose important seed dispersal, and local people lose an important supply of protein.”

7. Gathering Evidence Suburban Sprawl According to Kammen and Jones’ study in the IBTimes, they found that suburbs is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emission, resulting from larger homes for less than in urban cities. This creates a necessity for numerous cars per household and larger energy heating that is needed to power their homes.

8. Step 3:Determine the causes and factors contributing to the problem
Your task is to research the causes and factors, which contribute to deforestation in the United States.
Use the following worksheet to gather your information.