Why have forest resources been exploited by people?

Question

Why have forest resources been exploited by people?

Answer 1

Um, to build things.  You know, like houses, furniture, grocery stores, pencils, paper.  Exploit means to take advantage of.  The forest is a resource, so humans have taken advantage of it for the common good.  

Answer 2

Did you know that we have more forested land here in America than we have had in the last 100 years?

Answer 3

the main reason is population

so we need to fulfill every body's needs such as house,clothing

so they cut trees

Answer 4

exploited would not be the best word. Over-exploited forested areas are a huge problem. Strip clearing for development is a huge problem. The forest as a resource, is sustainable given it is managed well. Forestry management is a masters program a Yale university and the US government manages the largest tracts of "resource" forests in the US. They manage it by selectively cutting and selling the timber from year to year allowing them to move from one area to the next taking timber from areas that are ready and leaving others. When you talk about renewable resources, forests renew themselves if left alone, not many environments can do that.

Blame greedy people and developers for exploiting and paving over forest land. That is not using a resource it is destroying land, rendering it useless. There is something people can do about this, stop buying McMansions, stop building more shopping malls etc.  

Answer 5

Because - I'm hazarding a guess here - to sustainably use forest resources is a lot more - time consuming and complicated and expensive.

Brutally chopping, slicing, mowing down, dicing is the quickest way.

And there is this obsession with the 'modernized' look life. Concrete structures over a bamboo hut.

Everyone wants resources. Everyone wants everything. They want the fur, they want the wood, they want more paper, more land, etc etc. Since people didn't start crying foul earlier on, the forest and everything in it got exploited. I don't think people as such were quite prepared for the rate at which they'd literally zoom up deforestation and bring about catastrophes and endangered species and generally widespread panic.

And it's too late to go back. So all we can do is slow down and try to conserve what is left. Which sounds depressing.

The only glimmer of hope is that it's starting to be fashionable to be eco-friendly and aware and green. Which to me sounds disgusting. But, hey, if it helps the planet - it'll do.

Answer 6

Tom P is correct. IF we didn't use these resources during the early ages, we would have died off by the first winter because without wood, no one could've made fires to cook with and keep warm and as well they couldn't build houses. We use these resources because they are plentiful and abundant. Trees can be replanted therefore it is renewable in a sense. If we hadn't hunted in the past, very few would've survived if any.

Answer 7

I would venture to guess that its because of the ease in obtaining the materials from the forests.  Its way easier to chop down a few trees and build a house than to mine it out of rock.  Second, trees have this misterious way of growing.  Take a fertilized seed, germinate it, plant it, and wait.  Soon a tree starts sprouting up.  Give it more than a few years, and now you have a tree compairable to the one you cut down.  It amazes me how this happens, but I am an uneducated lout.

Answer 8

cut one down and plant ten more.used for building.

Answer 9

Because they are resources and resources are useful to people.

Overexploitation of resources is a real big problem.