Deforestation = 2nd greatest factor driving climate change
"Here's a show stopper: The second greatest factor driving climate change is deforestation. So says the highest authority in the land when it comes to global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- which calculates that the simple act of felling trees accounts for 17 percent of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions, second only to the burning of fossil fuels. While we fervently discuss carbon dioxide -- free forms of energy and fuel, scientists and policy makers increasingly espouse that ending deforestation is a vital short-term solution to rising emissions."
Victoria Schlesinger. "Forest Stump," Stuff Environmentalists Like. December/January 2009, 27.