Deforestation fuels Indonesia floods

Indonesia is recovering from deadly floods that killed more than 700 people, with experts blaming widespread deforestation for worsening the disaster. Forest loss, driven by timber extraction and palm oil farming, left the land unstable and prone to erosion. The deadliest flooding occurred on the island of Sumatra, which lost 11 million acres of forest between 2001 and 2024. That’s an area larger than Switzerland. Deforestation is primarily driven by the need to produce more food to support growing human populations.

Class discussion: How have we changed the American environment over the last 500 years? How much of our land is devoted to agriculture? What serious environmental mistakes have we made? What have we learned from our mistakes? Have we grown more or less vulnerable to natural disasters? What can you do to prepare to survive a disaster? Do you expect America’s natural environment to get better or worse? Why? Is it possible to improve both the environment and our quality of life?