Some numbers of our world. Forest and soil

I like numbers. They can show more clear the bottom line than anything else. And by this bottom line I do not mean profit ;).

Since 1950 we have lost nearly half of the world's original forest cover, some 3 billion hectares. Some are talking about destruction of up to 80% of the ancient forest (Image of forest destruction). Each year another 16 million hectares are cut, bulldozed, or burned. If we keep up with this rate of deforestation, by 2025 the demand will exceed the limits of sustainable consumption by 25%. But when all trees are gone the intricately linked ecosystem will be destroyed, and with it all life as well.
How?
Forests absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, anchor soils, protect against erosion, regulate water cycle and provide a habitat for millions of species.
Lets talk about soil and erosion, because as we all know, without soil there is no food and without food there are no people.
In the world we lost already one-fourth of our top soil and one-fifth of our farm land (Image of soil degradation)

"We stand, in most places on earth, only 6 inches from desolation, for that is the thickness of the topsoil layer upon which the entire life of the planet depends.”1

“Land degradation and desertification may be regarded as the silent crisis of the world, a genuine threat to the future of humankind."2

Securing food production can have a strong impact on efforts to slow down the flow of  environmental refugees inside countries as well as across national borders. The UN reports that soil degradation affects 2/3 of the countries in the world, more than 4 billion hectares of land, and more than a billion people. By 2020, an estimated 135 million people may be driven from their land as a result of soil degradation.

The soil needs death and life to sustain its quality. The soil’s living component includes the biomass (from the single-celled bacillus to earthworms, arthropods, and mammals that live in the soil). But all organisms, including plants and humans, are connected to the soil in many ways. Leaves that fall from trees, plants, animals leaving residues contribute to the system of the cycle. Most of these residues fall into the dead category. They not only provide energy and food for numerous organisms but also contribute to the development of humus, the very dead. 
The trees hold soil in place, they supply cover for animals, without trees the whole cycle is destroyed. Trees also protect the soil from being washed away in rainstorms. The run off water leads to soil erosion. The soil erosion lowers the productivity of the land and eventually leads to deserts development. The probably most devastating example of what can happen after server deforestation is Haiti. This Satellite image shows the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic. In 1923, over 60% of Haiti's land was covered with trees; by 2006, less than 2% was .

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

Nearly a billion people are severely malnourished or starving. Many of them due to soil erosion and desertification that follows short after.
When I look at the image above I wonder, what have to happen, for us to wake up and realize, that if we do not change how we live, our culture of limitless consuming and money as a most important idol, we will end up on the dead planet.

The Bottom Line is simple:
"Only when the last tree is dead, the last river poisoned and the last fish caught, you will notice that you can not eat money."

1: Sampson, R. 1981. Farmland or Wasteland: A Time to Choose. Overcoming the threat to America’s farm and food future. Rodale Press
2 August 30, 2007. More food needed now than in all recorded history. Restoring Soils vital to feed world, forestall climate change: experts. OneWorld.net http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/152674/1/3319