What is the truth about our forests in the U.S.A.?
In a healthy natural system, plants convert carbon dioxide to oxygen. This then reduces the 'greenhouse gases,' and thus global warming, and is healing to our planet, benefitting everyone.
However, all over the world, even in the United States, we are cutting down our forests. In many parts of the world, this is simply due to the encroachment of civilization. Forests are replaced with farmlands and cities. In other areas, forests are cleared for lumbar, and not replaced with anything.
When mountains and hills are denuded of trees, whether by cutting or drought, they are more likely to have landslides, and when there is sufficient rain, mudslides. This last has been happening in a major, lethal way, lately.
There used to be forests in many places that are now desert. Have you heard of the Cedars of Lebanon, a valuable wood source, cut down by the Romans in the old days? Easter Island once was a very advanced civilization, which was destroyed later, when they no longer had any trees left to build with, or use as paper. It became a desert island, with a much less developed level of civilization. We are headed that way, as we continueally open up our reserved forested areas to cutting.
Not only that, in the United States, we are cutting down excessive forests needlessly.
In the United States, we cut down more trees than we use. In some places, lumbar companies are getting subsidies from the government, to continue to cut trees, even though they have no market. Dead trees lie in the forests rotting, And they continue to cut more. Why? because they receive government subsidies, and as the money keeps coming in, they keep working. The lumbar companies, looking after their own interests, keep making sure they continue to get their subsidies. If anyone questions this, their excuse is that it protects the workers from unemployment. (It is mainly the executives, and the stockholders, who gain the most).
Why should our government pay for such wasteful and destructive projects? There are other options.
The government can better pay the men to work in repairing our roads, or repairing our bridges. Our large, old bridges are mostly in a state of decay and desrepair, and need much work. Or they could be building homes for the homless, and do any number of things to improve our world, not to destroy it. In any area of the country, there should be some worthwhile project that the government could subsidise, if subsidies are necessary for the population.
Not only that, we don't even need to cut down as many trees as we are now making use of. In the first place, paper does not need to be made out of trees. In ancient Egypt, they wrote on Papyrus, which was made from swamp reeds. It is obviously much more durable than our modern paper. Why not make paper from papyrus, or corn huskings, rice, grass, or hay? It is much kinder to the earth to use these annual plants, much of which would otherwise be waste matter, instead of cutting down living trees, which serve a major purpose to maintain the health and beauty of our world.
What can we do? Talk to others. Vote. Push for legislation to protect the environment, to stop the needless destruction of our National Parks and Reserves. We must stop the selfish politicians who have been removing one of our most important assets- the National Parks- for the financial interests of a few.
We also should push to reduce the emissions of 'greenhouse gases' Try to get the government to approve 'line item vetoe', so we don't include so many harmful laws with the important bills they need to pass. Become politically active.
Try to get our legislators to go back to protecting the forests, the pride or our land.
