Student 9

IDST 2205

October 4, 1999

 

                                                           Loggers Are Good Guys

 

As a representative of an international timber company, I am here to defend my occupation.  Loggers have a bad reputation.  We are seen by the public as a destructive force on nature.  However, we serve a purpose in society.  Although we do cut down trees in the

Amazon which destroys plants and animals and their habitats, our job is to provide those who use these resources with the materials they need (Wheeler 1).  Many people depend on timber in their everyday lives.  Paper mills and contractors are two of the many who thrive on wood.  Casket makers and furniture makers depend heavily on us to provide them with the mahogany that so many people prefer for their furniture or the caskets they want for their families.  The United States is the world=s single largest importer of mahogany (Hatch 1).  In the rainforest we get what we need, yet do our part in restoring it by replanting trees.

 

One of the methods of lumbering that we choose to use is called clear cutting.  This method is the complete removal in one cut of trees and vegetation.  There are many opponents of this method of clearing trees.  These opponents claim that this technique has caused greater deterioration of the forest.  The reason we like to use this is because it saves us time and money.  Clear cutting is also preferred because it allows us to create Aeven age@ forests in which all the trees are one age and one kind.  Clear cutting prevents the spread of natural diseases and insects like the spruce beetle.  Clear cutting also keeps the dwarf mistletoe, a parasite attracted to several coniferous species, from spreading tree to tree (Shepherd 117).

 

Everyone must make a living in some way or another.  My co-workers and I have families that depend on us to feed and clothe them, as well as to provide a home to live in.  We are not unlike every other family member that has a responsibility to care for his or her children.  Also, my children have educations that I must think about.  I must put my children through school in order to ensure them a good future in which they will one day have to care for their families, and so on and so on.

 

When we think of education we can not forget about the paper used everyday.  If it were not for my company and me, there would be no paper for taking notes or writing papers or even taking tests.  Students, however, are not the only ones who depend on paper.  Companies like mine need paper, too.  They need it to make their graphs, generate reports and to do regular paper work.  Everyone needs paper at some time or another.  Households use tremendous amounts of paper.  Imagine not having newspapers or magazines to read.

 

I do agree that everyone should do his/her part in saving the rainforest.  That is why my company has begun to replant trees where we have cut them down.  I have heard the arguments against cutting down the trees.  Some of these also concern me.  I know that twenty percent of the world's oxygen is produced in the Amazon.  This has caused environmentalist to refer to the area as "the lung of the earth."  Seventy percent of the plants that have been found to fight cancer are found here (Burton 1).  We can not, however, stop cutting down these trees all together like so many people want us to do.  The economy depends on us to do our job.  Homes must and will continue to be built for shelter, and paper mills will continue to create paper for our students and for the businessmen and women who need it.  The one thing we can all do is recycle.  Recycled paper works just as well as non-recycled paper.  Not only can paper be reused, but glass and cans can also be reused time and time again.

 

Some loggers recently have had problems with eco-terrorists.  Some of these terrorists have gone as far as to injure and possibly kill loggers.  In one instance the terrorists have put sharp tools with metal blades in the trees so that when the logger goes to cut down a tree, he is shot with the blades and is seriously injured.  I do not believe that this is the way to deal with a problem.  We can not work through problems with violence.  One organization, Greenpeace, on the other hand, does want us to stop the destruction of the rainforest, but does not present a threat.  They want us to do more to help in the preservation of the rainforest.  We are willing to help out and replant trees and plants that are destroyed during the process.  Also, we can promote recycling.  That would, however, cut down on our profit, but it would save the rainforest and many other types of forests.

 

Even though our logging activity exposes indigenous persons and animals and forces them to find new homes because of a loss of resources, we must think of all the other people and their needs as well (Burton 4).  We can in no way completely protect all the people and animals in the world.

 

The fate of us loggers as well as of other groups such as farmers, cattle ranchers, and rubber trappers, as far as I can see in the future, will more than likely remain important to all.  I do not believe that paper will go totally unneeded in schools and businesses, but it could somehow be substituted with computer technology.  I also do not foresee people not needing lumber to build houses and furniture.  People need homes to live in and furniture to put in them.  The demand for lumber will never disappear, but I will not disregard the fact that it could be decreased.  However, if the timber industry were wiped out it would leave my co-workers and me out of jobs and our families hungry.  It would be a domino effect, so to say.  If our line of business were destroyed, so would the other businesses that depend on us.  The paper mill would have no more resources to work with, thus putting them out of work.  This process would continue and would cause a great drain on our economy.  I believe that this could arise in the far future, but it is unlikely.  Computers could take the place of paper.  Schools could require students to have computers and do all homework, note taking, and tests on their computers rather than on paper.  These plans would save the trees but would be much more expensive for the student.  Most business workers have computers and would have a much easier time without paper, but it would probably be difficult to go completely without paper.

 

In conclusion, instead of putting people out of jobs or using violence to get the point across, we should all work together for the betterment of our economy and for our rainforest as well as for other forests.  Yes, I would like to save the rainforest completely, but there is no way we can put people out of jobs and deprive them of the resources that this very resourceful rainforest provides for us.  Not only loggers but others would be out of work.  A drug developer who comes to find new cures for diseases would not be able to help those in need if we left the rainforest alone.  The resources are here for us to use.  If we continue using and using and not replenishing, we will run into serious problems in the future.  In fact, there may not be any future if we do not act now.  If we replant what we cut down, we are doing something good for the future of our children.  Also, if we use these resources sparingly by recycling and not wasting, we can cut back on the deforestation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                    Works Cited

 

Burton, Jonathan.  "Paradise Lost?"  Scholastic Update 12 February 1003: 20-22

 

Hatch, Christopher.  "Brazil Bans Mahogany Logging in the Amazon."  Rainforest Action

Network.  Internet: 29 July, 1996.  Available: rainwood@ran.org.

 

Shepherd, Jack.  The Forest Killers: The Destruction of the American Wilderness.

New York: Weybright and Talley, 1975.

 

Wheeler, David L. "Rainforests can regain diversity after logging." Chronicle of Higher

Education 4 September 1998: a3s.

 

As a logger I have had first hand experiences, pros and cons, with logging and with oppositions to my job.  Both sides have valid points, but I believe that the world economy is just as much a part of sustaining life as saving the rainforest is.  We loggers contribute greatly to the world's economy.