Some Stats on the Global Tree Slaughter

Hey Mr. Green,

How many trees do people cut down per year?

--Crystal in Fort Myers, Florida

This is a traumatic question for me, because I was once a teenage logger who thrilled to the roar of a McCulloch chainsaw and the groan of a splitting log in the otherwise silent Wisconsin winter.

To answer your question: I've seen estimates as high as 11 billion trees worldwide each year, or about 1.62 trees per person per year.

But it might be more useful to consider other numbers, like the increase or decrease in forest cover. In the first half of the past decade, the world lost more than 28,000 square miles of forest, about 0.2 percent of the total, to logging and fires. Although some of this loss was a product of greed and waste, much of it resulted from poverty and underdevelopment. Poor countries often have the highest rates of deforestation, while western Europe is actually gaining forest. Burundi, for example, lost more than 5 percent of its woods between 2000 and 2005, Afghanistan more than 3 percent, and the Philippines more than 2 percent.

Increasing populations and inefficient agriculture force people to clear land, while a lack of fuel or cleaner energy forces them to burn vast amount of wood. In fact, a greater volume of wood is burned than is used for timber or paper, even though all this wood contains less than 2 percent of the amount of energy in the world's annual oil production.

All of which explains why it's so important that we drastically cut consumption of both oil and forest products. In other words, recycle this magazine and get thee to a carpool. Meanwhile, I'll be looking into a more mysterious but largely overlooked source of wasted paper: the 2.1 percent annual growth in the North American tissue market.

Mr. Green's Advice About How to Go Solar

Hey Mr. Green,

I really want to use solar energy for heating and cooling. How can I get advice about that? I'd also like to know if there's a local place to recycle an unwanted computer. 

--Linda in Rimrock, Arizona

I get more questions per capita from North Carolina and Arizona than from any other states. I attribute North Carolina's curiosity to Research Triangle spillover and Arizona's to the desire to harness all that sun power, a growing appreciation of desert ecology, and an undeniable need for water conservation.

Now back to your inquiries after that informative digression . . .

The best way to figure out what steps to take with a solar installation is to talk to a reputable local dealer. But I strongly recommend doing some research first so you'll be armed with intelligent questions about power needs, costs, rebates, tax credits, and so forth.

For solar electric panels, click here. For solar water heating, read the EPA's advice here. For advice specific to Arizona, try azsolarcenter.org and your local utility.

But, as I've mentioned many times, the best and cheapest way to save energy is to reduce your use.

For recycling just about anything, go to earth911.com, click on whatever it is you want to get rid of, type in your address, and voila! It shows you the nearest recycler. If a gadget isn't too aged and is in decent condition, you can also track down organizations that accept computers as donations.

Although it lists more than 100,000 recyclers, Earth911.com can't guarantee that they're all safe or ethical. So to learn more about a particular recycler, check with the International Association of Electronics Recyclers (iaer.org/search) or the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (isri.org).