Such massive deforestation affects climate, increases the chance of flooding, and destroys habitat essential for the survival of other living things. Reforestation efforts are helpful, but replace diverse forest ecosystems with stands of trees of a single species, increasing susceptibility to disease and reducing the ability to provide habitat for a variety of other life forms. Primarily due to loss of habitat, plants and animals are becoming extinct at a rate 1,000 times the rate through the rest of history. One in four large mammal species is endangered, as are one in eight plant species and one in eleven bird species. In addition, an acre of rain forest recycles 1000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.
Deforestation drastically affects weather patterns.
Americans each consume the equivalent of nine trees worth of paper each year. Around the world, half of all wood cut is needed for fuel wood and charcoal by poor people. The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it. Including industrial and agricultural uses, the average water use is 10 times that much per capita in the United States. In many places, water tables are falling much faster than they can be replenished by rainfall, primarily due to irrigating crops.