Unit 3: Environmentalism & The Future

How can recycled wood end unsustainable deforestation of the rainforest?

The problem of deforestation has been a big concern for the last 100 years. The first idea we had to attempt at preserving nature was the integration of national, state, and local parks that would employ the natural cycle, which we seem to almost enjoy destroying in so many places around the world. One example of our inability to sustain the natural cycle can be observed in the rainforest's that take up millions, if not what should be billions of acres on or near the equator. But this problem of deforestation is well known and therefore needs little explanation for why it is so terrible. What we should really be thinking about is how to start massive reforestation techniques that would begin reforestation and mitigate the possibility of our culture re-emphasizing the needless and destructiveness of burning forests and depleting their finite resources.
One means of mitigating the constant use of forest resources is to recycle wood products that would most often end up in landfills decomposing and never serving a purpose to society again. There are numerous waste management services that recycle wood products, however they do not usually turn wood based waste back into wood based building materials. What is more often seen is the production of mulch and earth surface covering materials. These are useful for limiting new plant growth in urbanized areas where vegetation is not need. But it does not solve the problem as far as structures being designed using demolished wood structures instead of forest resources that would one day end up in landfills rather than being recycled. One way to reuse building materials or any wood bi-product is the modern archetypal demolition of old wooden structures that still have wood that in many cases still have structurally sound materials that can go into other new buildings in the form of flooring, siding, or other building amenities.

Ariel view of a rainforest that has little
chance of reviving itself within
the next century.

  Another way of preserving forests in developing countries is to enact carbon credits and payments for communities that prioritize the conservation of the forest. Along with this ingenious use of money that not only benefits a rainforest community, but the entire planet, there must be education provided to land owners in such areas so that they understand why they're conserving their forest resources and how it benefits people for generations to come. Another thing to consider is who is going to subsidize the landowners and with what money are these "forest carbon credits" going to be rewarded? It has become a culturally based incentive to slash and burn for agricultural purposes, but once the land that has been cleared is being used as farmland, it quickly becomes nutrient-poor and does not yield high crop output. Giving a reward to those who do not use destructive techniques like slash and burn would reduce the number of people enacting them. However it will be difficult for people living in areas of dense forest to make a living on the land if they do not permit themselves to clear it. The best way to prioritize forest regeneration and conservation is by rewarding and educating people about successfully managing the land that is forested and dissuading entire continents to cut down any more trees.

Once clear-cut, this coniferous forest is slowly being
regenerated. Just one technique loggers
use to stay in business.

Once the spread of the lifestyle that is needed for the acclimation of forest conservation has been circulated around the world and is socially and culturally accepted, the next issue to address is how overpopulation will eventually force people to break into the forest resources to sustain the overpopulated Earth that doesn't seem to have enough resources to keep all of its inhabitants happy. In other words how are forests going to play a role in the sustenance of humanity in the future?
If we can learn to keep from overpopulating any further and start reducing our density as far as the human race is concerned, not only will we find ourselves in a more sustainable world, but there will also be much less competition and need for resources such as wood, water, and fossil fuels. However it will not be easy to persuade the international human culture which sees itself as an infinitely growing "machine", that takes up more space, more resources, and generates more problems. Turned to a conservative society that prides itself in the amount of resources it does not use and works together as one to change the world into one that enables the regeneration of forests, and allows nature to work as a well oiled machine based on less urbanization and less overpopulation of the human race, generating a happier, less worried society with fewer people, fewer international problems, and more money per capita. If we really want to learn from our mistakes and change the idea that history repeats itself then we must come to the conclusion that in order to keep a sustainable culture a few taboos must be accepted, birth control is one idea for limiting any more overpopulation, and it is a good alternative to governments implementing mass genocides to reduce population.

It will take some time, but somehow, someday, we will find ourselves in a world that can sustain itself for the next 10 billion years, which is when the sun is believed to burn up all remaining life on Earth. But until then, we need to educate ourselves to make a better world for our future generations.

Sources:
Robb, Aaron. "REDD - REDUCING EMISSIONS FROM DEFORESTATION AND FOREST DEGRADATION." The Blog*. Better Generation Group Ltd , 28 Sep 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.bettergeneration.co.uk/aaron robb/redd-reducing-emissions-from-deforestation-and-forest-degradation.html>.

"Reclaimed and Recycled Building Materials." Heritage Salvage. swirlspace eco design, n.d. Web. 10 Nov 2013. <http://www.heritagesalvage.com/reclaimed-building-materials>.

McCarthy, Billy. "REDD." Blue Moon Fund. 222 West South Street, Charlottesville Va 22902. Web. 10 Nov 2013. <http://www.bluemoonfund.org/how-we-work/jewels/redd/>.

Sullivan, Amy J. "Amazon Rainforest Census." Nourish Boston. wordpress.com, 23 Feb 2013. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://nourishboston.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/amazon-rainforest-census/>.

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