In favor of killing trees

Holistic Survival ShowAt Holistic Survival, we don’t often jump into the environmental debate. That way lies madness but sometimes the topic can’t be avoided. Today, we’d like to apply the law of supply and demand to the issue. The greenies love to opine that trees are being wasted by the millions to supply products for over-consumerated humans, products that could very well be created from non-tree materials.

The point being missed here is that trees are a renewable resource! Lumber companies replant them at a feverish pace, especially here in the United States. If the didn’t, they’d soon be out of business. Were the demand for trees to go down, taking the profit motive with it, guess what? Those lumber companies are not going to plant as many as they did before. Follow us here – a higher demand for paper products results in more trees, not less.

The way to insure that there are fewer trees on this planet is to demand we give up paper towels and switch to hand-dryers; that we swear off toilet paper and embrace the bidet. While there might be other reasons that make perfect sense to cut back on paper-based products, don’t walk around like an idiot telling everyone that it’s killing the trees and soon every state will look like Kansas. That is simply not the case, but is a specious argument that only sounds good if you turn off your brain. Unfortunately, it does not stand up to the immutable law of supply and demand.

When we don’t use trees for products that benefit humans but rather allow them to grow unfettered, the result is old, sick trees that spread disease to young, healthy trees, and raging forest fires in forests that are not regularly thinned. So, don’t feel guilty about reaching for that roll of paper towels. In fact, grab another handful.

The Holistic Survival Team

HolisticSurvival.com

Flickr / Lincolnian (Brian) – BUSY