One of the great lines I hear at school is about saving the trees. The students are worried that all the work we do on paper is decimating the rain forests. Not really. They use the line about the trees but all they are concerned about is avoiding work. Some people, though, are concerned. You can relax for a couple of reasons.
Trees grow back. Most people today live in big cities so they don’t realize this. When you go through a forest and cut down the trees more light reaches the ground and new trees sprout up. We have a place up in the mountains. It is on an old homestead that was divided up into half acre plots and is still pretty primitive. The back of our parcel butts up against the national forest. The first time I visited the sight about 30 years ago it had recently been logged off. Most of the big trees were gone although there were a few scattered here an there. Even at that point there were hundreds of smaller trees already on their way up. Today it is a forest again.
Most of the horrible pictures you see of clear cuts that “destroy” the environment are taken right after the cutting, not ten years later. If you ever get out of the metropolitan area and drive across the country you see trees coming up everywhere. They will come up through cracks in the pavement. They will grow between lanes of traffic. They will turn over fences. I have even seen trees growing up through the middle of abandoned houses. So relax. Get out of the mall and take a drive.
homo unius libri
When I was a kid, West Virginia was 75% forested. Now it's 80%. They may be ruining the rain forest, but America is returning to trees!
ReplyDeleteThanks. That is a real life experience that supports that trees grow back.
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace.