What is this B.S. about saving trees by not using paper? Most paper is made from pine wood pulp. Pine trees are grown in pine plantations spaced 8 feet apart and harvested when they are pulpwood size and sent to the paper mill. Just like any other crop...it is planted and harvested. When prices are up you%26#039;ll see more trees planted, when prices are down, less trees are planted. Reduced paper demand means lower prices for pulpwood therefore less trees. The grower will just plant something more profitable or clear the land for pasture or urban developement.
If you want trees to disappear.....just quit using paper and wood products! We have them only because they are valuable. When they have no monetary value, they will disappear.
I think most %26quot;paperless%26quot; folks are just duped by the computer people and the big corporations who just want you to do everything electronically just because it%26#039;s cheaper for them and increases their profits.

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1 year ago

The lady who said we should save the rain forests is right. They are not use primarily for paper, although if you are cutting down any forest you certaily want to salvage some value and some of it may be used for paper. But the main reason for clearing rain fores in South America is to make agricultural land...mostly soybean fields and pasture land. The valuable trees are sawmilled while the rest are simply bulldozed up and burned.
You tree lovers can get upset about someone making money from tree but the fact remains....No value-No trees. Sorry but thats the way it is.

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

good point. I think we should concentrate on saving the rain forests, and they don%26#039;t use those trees for paper. 100% 1 Vote

Other Answers (14)

• So, I suppose by your logic, if you were no longer a productive member of society, you would be worthless, whose only value would come from grinding your body into dog food? This is a ridiculous argument, because you%26#039;re taking the %26quot;invisible hand%26quot; theory of capitalism to an all time extreme. The free market will NOT protect something because it%26#039;s valuable. It will consume it. Ever heard of ivory? If the market were left to decide when a forest should be protected, it would only do so when ALMOST all the forests were harvested and gone. Then it would put on a big fat admission, so people could check out what a forest looked like, because conservation would be more economically viabe than deforestation at that point. It amazing that you%26#039;re making the argument, %26quot;in order to save the trees, we must consume the trees.%26quot; Would you make the same argument with dolphins? %26quot;Help save the dolphins everyone! Start eating them!%26quot; Value is NOT only measured in what can this raw material be turned into, so I can exchange money for the finished product (ex trees into paper). A forest serves humanity in many different ways, which we have completely taken for granted. Not only O2 production, but maintaining biodiversity, keeping the food web viable, reducing soil erosion, reducing runoff, providing people with natural experiences like camping (isn%26#039;t that important too???), and yes commodities such as paper. The world is not black and white, and your overly simplistic and cynical view of how to measure the importance of something is very askew in my opinion. I%26#039;m certainly glad you%26#039;re not in charge. 0% 0 Votes
• Well, as far as the rain forests....... the Haitian%26#039;s have actually ruined their environment by cutting most all the rainforest. They cut the trees to make charcoal, which is there primary cooking fuel.
  Since the trees are gone, it doesn%26#039;t rain, so everything is drying up.
  It%26#039;s vicious cycle. They need the trees to live, but they kill the trees so they can make a living. 0% 0 Votes
• I think paper is one of the least of our problems when it comes to deforestation, although it is a major problem none-the-less. There are too many companies and enterprises that are freely able to cut down entire forests for materials that make them more wealthy.
  I highly doubt that paper will disappear anytime in the next several generations. Although, we should be concerned to a degree about slowing down the process that is destroying nature.
  For those really concerned about deforestation for urban and modernizational purposes, plant a couple trees every now and then to help the birth rate of trees in comparison to their destruction rate.
  Where is another Johny Appleseed when you need one? Heh. 0% 0 Votes
• Exactly. I have made this same point several times. As far as I am concerned, recycling paper to save trees makes as much sense as recycling bread to save wheat. 0% 0 Votes
• When the computer came to the fore in the 90s we were promised that this would be the end of paper. Nearly 20 years later we are using more paper than ever. I do not think that there is any chance that the world will ever go paper-less. It sounds good but it is impractical. 0% 0 Votes
• Why not plant trees for recreation and to offset global warning? Not just pine trees to make paper, but mixed species so that animals and birds will live in there.
  I am sure there are more uses for land than development or farming only. What about land banking?
  Anyway, with all the paper that can be recycled, why do new trees have to be cut down?
  You forget that in making these lifeless plantations, trees have to be cut down. Likely a lot of them are beautiful mature trees.
  Do you want the whole of the world planted with pines?