Logging Truths You May Not Know
A lot of people are hyper aware of the environment.
Much of this comes as a side-effect from the vegetarian lifestyle.
The feeling of chopping down trees on a regular basis just sort of makes your meat-free skin crawl, doesn't it? Well, you don't have to feel that bad about things.
Here are some common misconceptions regarding the timber industry.
Logging Companies Are Hacking Down Rain Forests: Nothing gets the ire of a green-loving individual quite like hearing about rain forests being shredded.
True, the rain forests are getting depleted at an unhealthy rate, but take solace in the fact that we're not the ones doing the clearcutting.
The US timber industry has no reason to look toward rain forests as a primary source of lumber, so they stay clear most of the time.
The actual people clearcutting are the natives as farmland is the most valuable resources to them.
This means that they're chopping down the rain forest in order to grow more crops and simply survive.
It's tragic, but it's not us causing the problem, at least not by chopping down the rain forest.
We're Running Out Of Trees: Nothing could be further from the truth than the old fear that someday our children will run up to us and ask what a forest is.
Fact of the matter is, we have roughly the same amount of forested area in the US as we did 100 years ago.
This is because logging companies make a habit out of replanting trees after they cut them, otherwise they'd lose their only resource.
They aren't stupid, and the government wouldn't let them be anyway, so every time a tree gets cut down, rest assured, a new one is going to take its place.
Recycling Is Better Than Buying New: This one's a bit tricky, so be careful to look into exactly what you believe here, but on the bottom line, buying new paper ensures a new tree is planted, whereas buying recycled paper results in no new tree being planted.
However, the process of creating recycled paper does cause a lot of new energy use, transportation, and reduced quality.
I'm not advocating that you stop recycling, I'm just saying you should be aware that it doesn't actually help the perceived deforestation problem.
Logging Companies Are Still Clearcutting: If a logging company ends up clearcutting a forest, they're doing it illegally.
Governmental regulations are in place to prevent whole forests from being clearcut and places certain restrictions on logging companies, such as forbidding companies to clearcut within a certain distance from other clearcut zones and to demand the area be reforested before moving on.
Essentially, if a company is working outside the law, they don't count.
Protesting a criminal isn't going to make them see eye-to-eye is all I'm saying.
Much of this comes as a side-effect from the vegetarian lifestyle.
The feeling of chopping down trees on a regular basis just sort of makes your meat-free skin crawl, doesn't it? Well, you don't have to feel that bad about things.
Here are some common misconceptions regarding the timber industry.
Logging Companies Are Hacking Down Rain Forests: Nothing gets the ire of a green-loving individual quite like hearing about rain forests being shredded.
True, the rain forests are getting depleted at an unhealthy rate, but take solace in the fact that we're not the ones doing the clearcutting.
The US timber industry has no reason to look toward rain forests as a primary source of lumber, so they stay clear most of the time.
The actual people clearcutting are the natives as farmland is the most valuable resources to them.
This means that they're chopping down the rain forest in order to grow more crops and simply survive.
It's tragic, but it's not us causing the problem, at least not by chopping down the rain forest.
We're Running Out Of Trees: Nothing could be further from the truth than the old fear that someday our children will run up to us and ask what a forest is.
Fact of the matter is, we have roughly the same amount of forested area in the US as we did 100 years ago.
This is because logging companies make a habit out of replanting trees after they cut them, otherwise they'd lose their only resource.
They aren't stupid, and the government wouldn't let them be anyway, so every time a tree gets cut down, rest assured, a new one is going to take its place.
Recycling Is Better Than Buying New: This one's a bit tricky, so be careful to look into exactly what you believe here, but on the bottom line, buying new paper ensures a new tree is planted, whereas buying recycled paper results in no new tree being planted.
However, the process of creating recycled paper does cause a lot of new energy use, transportation, and reduced quality.
I'm not advocating that you stop recycling, I'm just saying you should be aware that it doesn't actually help the perceived deforestation problem.
Logging Companies Are Still Clearcutting: If a logging company ends up clearcutting a forest, they're doing it illegally.
Governmental regulations are in place to prevent whole forests from being clearcut and places certain restrictions on logging companies, such as forbidding companies to clearcut within a certain distance from other clearcut zones and to demand the area be reforested before moving on.
Essentially, if a company is working outside the law, they don't count.
Protesting a criminal isn't going to make them see eye-to-eye is all I'm saying.
