If trees take years to grow and we use and burn so much wood, how does we not run out of wood?
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The logging companies plan ahead.
They know that to be sustainable over the long term they need to manage the forests they have, exactly like a farmer planting crops.
This means they can work on a scale of 20 to 50 years or more, cutting down areas that were planted decades ago and and planting trees that won’t be cut down for a few more decades.
The trick is that they have enough land and manage how much they cut down to ensure a steady supply. For example, take the land you have and split it into 30 sections – each year you fell one section and replant it, the next year you fell and plant the next section and so on. By the time you have cut down section 30 the trees you planted in year #1 are now ready to fell and you can start again.
If you want to produce more wood, you need to buy new areas, either already containing the wood you want to produce, or accepting that your new land is an investment that won’t start to produce money for a few decades yet…
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