[ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY]

I’m waiting for the follow-up about Scotland’s vast pine forests (hence,Scotch pines) and how they were decimated by the Royal Navy’s need for masts in the 18th century.

Or, how about the “Native” Americans practice of hunting bison by stampeding the herds over cliffs? They were doing a good job of exterminating them just as they had the mastodons, long before the nasty Europeans arrived.

The point is: Man has done some stupid things to the natural world, but Western civilization is not the cause.

[Calvin Locke]

and how they were decimated by the Royal Navy’s need for masts in the 18th century.

I assume by masts, you mean ships. I think I once saw a number like 3.5 square miles of forest per a frigate.

[Vince Ferrer]

Or, how about the “Native” Americans practice of hunting bison by stampeding the herds over cliffs? They were doing a good job of exterminating them just as they had the mastodons, long before the nasty Europeans arrived.

They also deforested the southwest US into a desert, by chopping down the trees which held the soil together. I don't know of any native Americans which planted trees, even though many were farmers.

[Tallguy]

“I’m waiting for the follow-up about Scotland’s vast pine forests (hence,Scotch pines) and how they were decimated by the Royal Navy’s need for masts in the 18th century.”

A lot of the ship building material for the Royal Navy came from the American Colonies (& Canada) — particularly the Carolinas. As a kid in elementary school I was always puzzled by the list of chief exports of colonial NC, the leading one being “naval stores”.

Spanish ships of the period were frequently built of South American mahogany & teak. Practically indestructable (they were great prizes, however).