Pine Plantations Continue to Spread
May 9, 2040 - In the southern US states pine plantations now cover an area of 52 million acres. This increase of 67% in the last 45 years is mainly because of the demand of paper products. Pine plantations now account for almost half of southern timber volume growth.
During this same period of 45 years, all 13 southern states have lost acreage of natural forest, a total of 25 million acres, due to the increase of pine plantation expansion and loss of forest to residential and urban uses. Florida has had the greatest loss with almost 58%, South Carolina with 35% and North Carolina with 30%. More than 270 million acres of forest have been harvested in the southern states since 1995.
The most pine plantations are found in Georgia with a total of 9.3 million acres, with Alabama as second with 7.5 million acres.
Argument: The information is from the study The Southern Timber Market to 2040 published by USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station.
January 19, 2035 - According to the latest statistics presented this week, 1 million hydrogen-fueled cars have now been sold in the US. The figures for last year show an increase in sales by 50% from 2033.
January 8, 2035 - With a first prize of seven million US dollar and the intriguing plot of trying to fool or outsmart Arnold, the most advanced artificial intelligence in public use, the much hyped live show “Fooling Arnold” became the people’s choice this Saturday.
December 20, 2030 - The launch yesterday of the virtual realistic-looking human newscaster from Simple News gained rave reviews. Others have made several attempts earlier, but this sends the live newscasters in to a pretty shaky future.
December 18, 2020 - This year shows strong growth for wind power when the total global installed capacity added a record 62,000 MW, making the total capacity more than 680,000 MW. Wind power is by far the renewable source with the largest growth in worldwide capacity during the last decade.
December 15, 2030 - There's no doubt what the most popular Christmas present will be this year. Influenced by the launch of the first manned mission to Mars next month, you will most likely get a present with stars, a gift card for a spacetrip.
November 19, 2040 - Today was a historic day for Iceland when their President this morning at a symbolic ceremony officially shut down the last gasoline pump in the country. Iceland is a model country when it comes to the fuel transition from gasoline to hydrogen and became today the first country in the world to complete it.
September 21, 2050 - At a press conference today it was announced that the first tourist heading for Mars will be the 38-year-old US businessman Patrick Clifford. He will leave the earth in the launching window of June 2052 and set his foot on the surface of Mars in November, together with the other 6 astronauts assigned for the mission to further explore the planet.
September 12, 2035 - Are you kidding? Is it possible to beam myself? No, of course not, but you can now make a 3-D projection of yourself anywhere in the world. The first product for real teleimmersion has been released, the Telebeamer.
September 5, 2035 - More than 20,000 quadriplegics around the world have now got a BCI, a Brain Computer Interface. It gives them the ability to control their environment, from driving their own electric wheelchairs outside their house, to make their own dinner.
Comments:
I'd hope that by 2040 we're making much of our paper with hemp. Per unit area of paper, hemp takes less time to grow and since it is so much easier to pulp, uses much less energy and requires less agressive chemistry. The fibers are also stronger than pine. Of course lower costs, reduced energy consumption and a gentler environmental footprint "sends the wrong message". Of course we all know what that is code for.
Posted by: Lamont B Dumont
Using trees for paper, lol, what antiquated country are you living in? As you know all offices went paperless 20 years ago and everything that paper could do, ultra-thin, cheap tablets and colored e-ink can do. Plus since everything is done digitally I haven't seen a paper magazine or junkmail in 15+ years.
Now if only spam would go the way of paper...
FTLNewsFeed
Posted by: FTLNewsFeed
Even 30 years from now there will be a high demand of paper products. We've already been a while into this "digital age" and while the use of paper has decreased for certain aspects it is still widely used for other.
Posted by: red wine resveratrol
Use hempa nd stop cutting trees. Plant more... We need it for the oxygen, u know... Or maybe they will sell it like bottled water in super-markets...???
Posted by: Kristina, Serbia
Great blog. I really love reading it.
Posted by: music warez