Does recycling reduce deforestion?

Question

Just saw a commercial touting that show "Axmen" and wondered. Does recycling help save our forests. Also, the show touts these so called axmen as heroes I do not see it that way. First, there is nothing heroic about chopping down trees, trees don't run or fight back. Second, the guys on the commercials keep stating how they are like the pioneers,again wrong.

Answer 1

Hey, they like their work, and I imagine it's not a bad job at that, since it's physical, some thinking involved, and you're outside.  Do they stop and think about the big picture on a regular basis?  Probably not, but how many of us consider that when selecting a profession?  Educators do.  Researchers do.  But the guy/gal on the street may not.

Recycling and using recyclable materials is a start on protecting our forests.  Many trees are harvested from tree farms, where the biological diversity is far less.  A better effort would involve restructuring the U.S. Forest Service, which right now is under the Dept. of Agriculture.  The whole way we do business on our forest lands is antiquated and should be reevaluated.

Answer 2

slowly n hopefully,it wld

Answer 3

Amen, brother!  There's nothing s**y about chopping down trees.  But to answer your question, recycling can reduce deforestation indirectly.  When you recycle paper, it can be recycled to make new paper instead of having to chop down another tree.  However, keep in mind that a very small percentage of paper actually gets recycled to become new paper... so remember, reduce and reuse are the best options!  NEXT is recycle.  The best way to reduce deforestation is to buy paper products that are made from a high percentage of post-consumer recycled paper.  Another trick I like is to save old sheets of paper you don't need anymore (i.e. you printed something out on accident, junk mail, unwanted flyers, etc) and use the backside for scratch paper.  You can cut them into squares and use them like you would post-its.  Neat!  :)

Answer 4

How many forests do you own?

I personally don't own any and I always wondered about people wanting to save "our" forests.

It seems to me that if a person owns land, and the trees thereon, he should have the right to do whatever he wills with his forests.

To answer your strange question, recycling doesn't save anything but money. I recycle (that is, reuse) whatever I can in order to save myself some money, but a person who owns forests will no doubt continue to sell his trees as long as he can for as much as he can.

Interesting fact: If you could cause there to be more trees by recycling, the price of wood would fall, thereby causing more to be harvested! So actually recycling causes MORE trees to be cut down!

Ha!

Answer 5

Yes, among other uses, trees are used to produce paper products. When you recycle paper, you reduce the use of trees.Thinking that the deforestation perpetrators are pioneers in a way is true: they pioneer the end of a healthy earth. You can see the world as alien to you, or as one with you. In the first case you want to control it --cut, burn, poison, flood, fight  etc..--  in the second case you relax in its bosom and enjoy it. You choose.

Answer 6

Recycling has no effect on forest cover.  The trees harvested for paper and lumber are planted by the logging companies for the purpose.  Forest cover in North America has been steadily increasing since the early 20th century, primarily because logging companies have been required to re-plant areas as they harvest.

Answer 7

It is the lesser evil, we shouldn't even throw anything "away" in the first place. In the saying, Reduce, reuse and recycle, recycling is the last resort. Of course it's better than nothing!

But if we keep thinking "it's the lesser evil", do you think that will save the world?