""Ok, now add the fact the the world is depleting it's forests at an alarming rate. ""
Really?
Source: Los Angeles Times
Headline: Commentary: Greens Don't See Forest for the Trees
Byline: Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, president of Greenspirit
Dateline: Tuesday, March 26, 2002
The LA Times article doesn't represent the forests of the world, nor super-forests of Africa and S America. It doesn't represent the loss of old-growth forests that have harboured many diverse species which do not and cannot live and develop in a farmed forest environment. These old-growth forest which Bush and his special interest groups and corporations want to destroy (had to put a politcal punch in there as it is all politics and corporate money). It's been in the local news often enough here in the Pac NW and in Calif. Redwoods.
I'm all for paper. I request paper over plastic in the market. I reuse my paper bags until they fall apart, then recycle. I reuse plastic until it falls apart, then send it for recycling.
Here in Pac NW, in the Woodland, WA, Lewis River bottom lands which used to be minimal agriculture, they have planted hundreds of acres of hybrid, fast-growing poplar trees for woodpulp. No different from planting timothy grass for hay, and a great use of the floodplane.
On the Island of Hawaii, eucalyptis plantations have replaced sugar cane at higher elevations for paper pulp. (Sugar is no longer grown on Hawaii commercially - last plant to close was in 1996), I think there may be some small company producing on Maui).
On Mt. St. Helens, Weyerhaueser lost hundreds of thousands of acres of forest plantation in the blast of May 18, 1980. As soon as they were allowed, they went in and recovered as much as they could of the blown-down and burnt timber - only about 10% of their holdings. Then they replanted. Where the ash was shallow, they could replant with no problems. Where the ash was deep (and sterile) they had to come up with alt. solutions, which was Red Alder that has nitrogen nodules in its roots and impart nitrogen to the soild around it. Red alder became a live furtilizer and within 3 years they were able to plant Doug. Fir.
Because of the shortages of lumber due to forestfire, and shipping overseas, and extensive use of it's byproducts, and the closing of oldgrowth forests to logging, corps have come up with new ideas and development of new resources. Remember "necessity is the mother of invention". If we didn't have to change our practices or do it differenly, we wouldn't!
Look at your copier paper. It now has a large % of recycled (pre- and post-consumer) product in it. This is true of most paper products today. 10 years ago, it was difficult to find any copier paper with even 5% pre-consumer recycled product.
The US and Canada may have as much or more forest land today, due to replanting, but how healthy are these man-made forests? That's why the huge fires in the West these last 10 years. Fire = consumption of oxygen and release of carbons (our original thread).
Also, replanting of forest land, private and public, is a fairly recent event - 1930's-40's - after 80+/- years of cutting without replanting nor awareness of the effects. Sure the excess CO2 helps these forests grow, that the CO2 is not the REASON we have the forests we have today!
Forest studies began in the early 1900's when scientific visionaries understood that forests were not going to survive the "cut and run" attitude of the era. Afterall, the forests seemed to go on forever!
http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/about/75-closer-truth/Closer%20B.pdf
If government didn't step in and support the visionaries, if corporations weren't told "no more old growth", etc., we wouldn't be anywhere near as advance today as we are in our forest management and recycling. We're still not THERE yet, either.
Pulp to ponder
Brenda