[Paddlewise] Wooden kayaks

Kayakers, guitar players and others who use relatively small quantities
of tropical woods are often concerned about deforestation, and rightly
so, but they are not the problem; they are, in fact, part of the
solutiuon.

The deforestation of large parts of the Amazon basic are not due to
logging, but to other practices, most notably a sort of slash-and-burn
ranching that was encouraged for many years in many South American
countries. Tree that we would consider very valuable were simply burned
to produce temporary grazing ground.

The wise use of tropical woods is what gives them economic value, and
makes it preferable to log them than to burn them. And the production of
marine plywood is a very efficent way to use logs.

-- mike
---------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Edelman   mje_at_spamcop.net
http://www.foldingkayaks.org (nomadics)
http://www.findascope.com (choosing a telescope)

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