THE
FOREST AROUND US |
The Plastic Forest – a fable? |
the ground. And you see boy, the trees that fell and rolled away were the food for the ground that allowed other young trees to grow. Nature looked after her own in the great forests, but unfortunately man in his haste to live, and his neglect of nature, forgot that there is a balance of nature that must not be forgotten.” ....“As the countries of the world became overpopulated the forests were overused and abused. The machine age, the great cities’ age, the great factory age—all created great problems with the air around the world. Some men warned of the dangers of the worsening air in the world, but not enough countries, as groups of people were known by, heeded their warning. The pressures mounted through the years and finally the disaster |
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....The
man and the boy stood back from the lake’s edge a few hundred yards
and watched the sunrise. The air was cool and the glint of the rays made
them both squint as they looked across the water at the Plastic Forest. |
Some wooden trees were called hardwood and some were called softwood.
On this western land that we live in most of the trees were green and
they covered the mountains like a thick carpet when seen from the sky.” |
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60 | British Columbia
Lumberman, January, 1973 |
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of the Great Global War befell the world and the resulting terrible gasses and contaminated air were simply too much for the forests. The balance of nature was broken and all the forests of the world died. It is a miracle that some men lived on in caves and shelters and were able to keep records of the times.” ....“When the few remaining people of the world emerged from their caves and shelters the world was still and hot in the day and cold at night. The winds had ceased and instead of the great green carpets of trees, there stood the white skeletons of trees, their green coats gone and lost to man forever. It was then that mankind learned he would have to find a new way of life to survive.” ....The sun was now above the tops of the Plastic Forest across the lake. The air was warming up quite fast about the rocky area that the man and the boy were standing in. Soon they would have to go indoors for the heat would be overpowering in its reflection off the great rocky slopes. ....“But why do they call those
trees the Plastic Forest—and why are they there?” ....“It is getting very warm, we should return to the house.” They turned and began to walk up a well worn path to their home. “What is that father—do you see it over there among those rocks?” |
The man stepped
off the path and walked carefully over to where the boy was pointing.
He knelt down and a look of disbelief came over his face. He had seen
pictures—it was green and it was several inches high—and he
could touch it—it was no picture!
....It was a tree?—a tree—a
small tree—what were they called in the great library?—a
seed or seedling—that was it, a tree seedling—and it was
growing—here by the lake—near his home. But would it survive?
Were there more like it? He would find out, for if this were a tree
seedling, maybe someday there could be real forests again—Maybe. |
....It
was very hot, the boy cried to his father to come home and the man left
his kneeling position and still looking back walked up the path with the
boy. He opened the door to let the boy in and stood there framed in the
shade of his doorway and looked over at the Plastic Forest on the other
side of the lake. He wondered: Keep out of the bight, |
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British Columbia Lumberman, January, 1973 | 63 |