Amazon Deforestation, Once Tamed, Comes Roaring Back
I'm running a Kickstarter for a wood product right now and so I've learned a thing or two about how to encourage reforestation. The answer is get economics to drive reforestation.<p>Cats, cows, turkeys, dogs, and horses, among many other animals, will always be around as long as humans are, simply because we'll ensure that they always have a healthy habitat. The same goes for trees, especially tropical trees.<p>Reforestation is a huge opportunity if we invest in plantations that have managed cutting, allowing tropical trees to grow up to 40 years before being turned into beautiful products like furniture.<p>In order to produce high quality lumber that's useful for furniture making, like mahogany for example, loggers have to be selective about the trees they fell. Can't just chop down every one of them because not all will generate productive wood.<p>Maple is similar in that it's plantation grown right here in the U.S. What that actually means in terms of wood quality is that it suffers a bit from uniformity.<p>The reason I know this is because I'm running a Kickstarter for a remote control[1]. It's made out of mahogany and maple, but its impact is offset a bit by the small size of the remote, which also makes small features much more distinguishable.<p>This is also one of the reasons why I'm a vegetarian, as much deforestation is caused by burning forests for raising livestock.<p>[1]: Turn Touch: <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samuelclay/turn-touch-beautiful-control" rel="nofollow">https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samuelclay/turn-touch-b...</a>