Why Rubber Trees Are Important

Connor Ostadali

Most things in life we take for granted. We never actually get to see how much work is put into producing everything that we use on a day-to-day basis. Today, I would like to tell you about how important rubber trees are. I was inspired by a discussion in my environmental science class to write about this and I hope that this inspires you too.
Rubber is in most of the things that we use today. Almost everything that you have on or around you is made up of some sort of rubber. There is so much rubber that we use, it’s almost as if there is an unlimited supply of it. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. 90% of the world’s rubber is produced in ONE area of the world – southeast Asia. And when you have all of that rubber in one area of the world, lots of things can go wrong.
First of all, many companies and infrastructures are plowing through the area, and cutting down so many acres of rubber trees that they are unable to regrow. When you don’t allow for the trees to grow, the amount of product that can be produced from the material decreases dramatically. Not only that, southeast Asia is one of the most heavily populated areas in the world, so when you have lots of people in that area, you need to expand. The only way to expand? Cutting down the trees and building new communities.
Now I am going to assume that most of you are around fifteen years or older, which means that most of you are able to drive cars or even buy your own. Just think about it for a second. What does every car need? Four tires. Four, made mostly of rubber, tires. All across the world, over 1 billion people own cars alone. So in cars alone, not counting bikes, motorcycles, RVs, etc., there are over 4 billion tires, all which are made up of rubber.
What I am trying to stress is: so much rubber is being used. If we do not find out ways to help conserve rubber, we will eventually run out of the resource and the price of the sought-after material will skyrocket. And just like I said before, most of the things on and around you are made up of rubber. If the price of rubber does inflate our economy, it will be very hard to buy anything and our countries economy will crash if nothing is done, and done soon, to help influence change.
If you would like to read the full article that inspired me, see the link below. Please start thinking of ways to help save our environment. Making a difference might be our only hope at having a bright and prosperous future for ourselves, and for all that follow in our footsteps.
Don’t Let Your Tires Destroy the World’s Forests