Friday, July 25, 2014

Who Would Have Guessed?

The USDA just issued a report that listed the land mass per state covered by trees. Above is the set of states where it exceeds 50% of the land mass. There are seven at 70% ore more and New Jersey has almost 60%! That is 60% for the most populated state per square mile! California is half that number!

It is interesting to examine the report and consider the data. New Hampshire is almost 90%. A century ago it we near total deforestation due to rampant cutting. Maine is at 85% and lumber is one its main industries!

One wonders how the current Bishop of Rome seems to worry that we Americans have deforested our lands. As VoA stated:

In an address at the University of Molise, an agricultural and industrial region in southern Italy, Francis said the Earth should be allowed to give her fruits without being exploited. “This is one of the greatest challenges of our time: to convert ourselves to a type of development that knows how to respect creation,” he told students, struggling farmers and laid-off workers in a university hall. “When I look at America, also my own homeland [South America], so many forests, all cut, that have become land... that can longer give life. This is our sin, exploiting the Earth and not allowing her to give us what she has within her,” the Argentine pope said in unprepared remarks.

With this data one really questions that assertion. Perhaps on his proposed trip to Philly he could cross the Delaware and see the trees! The facts can be so disconcerting.