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“Today, 80 percent of New England is covered by forest or thick woods. That is a far cry from the mere 30 to 40 percent that remained forested in most parts of

“Today, 80 percent of New England is covered by forest or thick woods. That is a far cry from the mere 30 to 40 percent that remained forested in most parts of the region in the mid-1800s, after early waves of settlers got done with their vast logging, farming, and leveling operations.“ Source: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/08/31/new-england-sees-return-forests-and-wildlife/lJRxacvGcHeQDmtZt09WvN/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/08/31/new-england-see...

sp332 9y ago
Note also that at least New Hampshire has far more tree cover now than it ever did before the deforestation. But we have lost ~100% of our old-growth trees.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
  The new trees will become old growth in good time. Japan was heavily deforested 300 years ago too and much of that has recovered.
  - sp332 9y ago
    Yeah, hopefully. The trouble at the moment is an invasive species which nibbles the tips of all the pine trees, making them grow slowly and generally crappy looking. Also a big conservation area in my hometown sold logging rights. Sure it's "responsible sustainable" logging but it still scared off all the wildlife! I'd never heard that place be dead silent before. It's very depressing.
mc32 9y ago
Can only hope Brazil, India and Indonesia will follow in the replanting and reforestation after they're done with their denuding their tropical forests.
- zappo2938 9y ago
  People need to learn from what happened in Haiti. They have no trees to protect the soil for farming and from hurricanes. They over fished their coastal waters to the point they are dead now. Neither do they have access to fish for food nor one the biggest economic drivers in the Caribbean, diving reefs, which bring in billions in tourism dollars. It is so friggen' obvious what happens when we don't project the environment, I can't figure out why people are so naive.
  - mc32 9y ago
    I'm guessing it would never happen but perhaps the most viable move would be for them to merge with the Dominican Republic --not that they are the best government around, but they cannot be worse than Port-au-Prince with regard to governance. Or they need to learn how to attract investment rather than feel-good NGOs who exacerbate the issue of corruption and dependence on foreign aid.
  - ExactoKnight 9y ago
    It's also becoming fricking obvious what happens when we allow environmentalism to make us deeply skeptical towards anything involving the physical manipulation of objects in the real world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxw-JDSvKTg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxw-JDSvKTg Our economy is stagnating, and as our growth stagnates, politics becomes a zero sum game. Our radical environmentalism is creating a world that no longer accepts change in the world outside of bits.
    - ageofwant 9y ago
      "Rampant Environmentalism" is by far the better problem to have. You can tune down from that, what we now have is a road to extinction. Also, its noteworthy that rampant exploitation begats radical environmentalism, just like uncontrolled libertarian capitalism begats marxism. Get rid of the one, and the reason for the other goes away too.
    - noelwelsh 9y ago
      There is nowhere in the world where "radical environmentalism", whatever that may actually mean, is practised on any scale. If you're concerned about economic growth you would be better looking at inequality. Of course Peter Thiel is not going to mention that.
andrewem 9y ago
I guess it's anecdata, but near me within 10 miles of downtown Boston there is a substantial area of forested park land which used to be farms. You can tell it was farm land by the remnants of the stone walls, which themselves only became prominent somewhere around the Revolution when people had cut down so many trees there wasn't enough for building fences entirely from wood. Source: my recollection of reading https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1581571658 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1581571658

sp332 9y ago

Note also that at least New Hampshire has far more tree cover now than it ever did before the deforestation. But we have lost ~100% of our old-growth trees.

kevin_thibedeau 9y ago
The new trees will become old growth in good time. Japan was heavily deforested 300 years ago too and much of that has recovered.
- sp332 9y ago
  Yeah, hopefully. The trouble at the moment is an invasive species which nibbles the tips of all the pine trees, making them grow slowly and generally crappy looking. Also a big conservation area in my hometown sold logging rights. Sure it's "responsible sustainable" logging but it still scared off all the wildlife! I'd never heard that place be dead silent before. It's very depressing.

mc32 9y ago

Can only hope Brazil, India and Indonesia will follow in the replanting and reforestation after they're done with their denuding their tropical forests.

zappo2938 9y ago
People need to learn from what happened in Haiti. They have no trees to protect the soil for farming and from hurricanes. They over fished their coastal waters to the point they are dead now. Neither do they have access to fish for food nor one the biggest economic drivers in the Caribbean, diving reefs, which bring in billions in tourism dollars. It is so friggen' obvious what happens when we don't project the environment, I can't figure out why people are so naive.
- mc32 9y ago
  I'm guessing it would never happen but perhaps the most viable move would be for them to merge with the Dominican Republic --not that they are the best government around, but they cannot be worse than Port-au-Prince with regard to governance. Or they need to learn how to attract investment rather than feel-good NGOs who exacerbate the issue of corruption and dependence on foreign aid.
- ExactoKnight 9y ago
  It's also becoming fricking obvious what happens when we allow environmentalism to make us deeply skeptical towards anything involving the physical manipulation of objects in the real world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxw-JDSvKTg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxw-JDSvKTg Our economy is stagnating, and as our growth stagnates, politics becomes a zero sum game. Our radical environmentalism is creating a world that no longer accepts change in the world outside of bits.
  - ageofwant 9y ago
    "Rampant Environmentalism" is by far the better problem to have. You can tune down from that, what we now have is a road to extinction. Also, its noteworthy that rampant exploitation begats radical environmentalism, just like uncontrolled libertarian capitalism begats marxism. Get rid of the one, and the reason for the other goes away too.
  - noelwelsh 9y ago
    There is nowhere in the world where "radical environmentalism", whatever that may actually mean, is practised on any scale. If you're concerned about economic growth you would be better looking at inequality. Of course Peter Thiel is not going to mention that.

andrewem 9y ago

I guess it's anecdata, but near me within 10 miles of downtown Boston there is a substantial area of forested park land which used to be farms. You can tell it was farm land by the remnants of the stone walls, which themselves only became prominent somewhere around the Revolution when people had cut down so many trees there wasn't enough for building fences entirely from wood. Source: my recollection of reading https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1581571658 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1581571658