Drop In Deforestation Rates!

This sorry excuse for a blog is part of my series as I read through the much acclaimed book: Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker. (Bill Gates even called it his “New Favorite Book of All Time”, of course, after the sexy bits from Fifty Shades of Grey).

Deforestation rates are falling, as our society moves from using paper to digitization. We all knew this, in the back of our minds, but didn’t hear much about it, mostly because the media would rather update us about celebrities undergoing boob jobs. While, I have nothing against boob jobs, I do care more about silicon’s role in propping up more trees, than a stranger’s tits.

The amount of attention that Brazil’s clearly shady President received in 2019 for allowing burning down the amazon rainforest was very refreshing. But, unless we are all pain loving masochists, we need to hear the good news pertaining to Tropical deforestation too: while over 200 million hectares were deforested over 15 years between 1980 and 1995, that dropped by over half to about 100 million hectares over the following 15 years. This trend is set to continue.

Human Beings are increasing in number. Average standard of living is better than ever before in almost every nation. However, our resource utilization has become far more efficient too. Therefore, we are extracting more out of less. If nothing else, to everyone complaining about population explosion (with or without knowing that it is set to peak at 11 billion) and our excessive consumer decadence, this should be hope that we can achieve sustainable lives via multiple means.