Die Judicii wrote:Yesterday I cut up and split a massive log of Ironbark for firewood.
This particular log was in excess of 1.3 meters diameter and just on 3 meters long.
The owner of the property from whence it came told me it has been laying on the rocky ground where I got it from for just over 50 years, that he recalls.
It was there when he was 20 years of age, and he has no idea as to when it was first cut down.
To my surprise, when cutting it into rings and then starting to split it, I found that the majority of the inner wood was still like a "green" tree.
Which made me think of even bigger sized logs of River Redgum that I had cut and split in Sth Aust that also showed similar degrees of maturity/ageing.
This in turn I find is yet again,,,, proof that mankind is burning (devouring) firewood far faster than it is actually growing, maturing, dying, and seasoning.
A sobering thought,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, where are we really heading to ?????
bladeracer wrote:We burn about one cubic meter of split wood per week during these months. A lot less when it's warmer, but our cooking, heating, and water heating is all done by the wood stove, so it still burns during summer. But Rose has also planted thousands of native seedlings just in the seven years we've been here - a lot of these are already well established. Bob put in conifers for wind breaks on the fence lines, but most of those are falling now, so Rose is replacing them with natives, like Strzlecki.
Rose's dad cut and sold firewood from these properties for many, many years, as a very profitable side business. A wild guess would be that we burn probably something like 20-tons of wood per year. Sounds like a lot, and when you're cutting, splitting and carting it every week, it is a lot. But we don't keep up with the trees that fall every year, and have neighbours come in to cut them up for their own use as well. About fifty-percent of our properties are natural bush though, fenced off from the cattle. We very rarely pull any wood out of there, preferring to leave it for the wildlife. But I can imagine some properties that have been farmed hard would struggle to produce enough wood for their own needs. We still have a lot of big trees that have fallen long ago, but for various reasons haven't been utilized yet.
People that source their firewood from other people are probably putting a dent in the overall usage I guess.
wanneroo wrote:As it stands, the world has more trees than ever. China has planted a huge amount, the United States is heavily forested in places where it previously never was.
SCJ429 wrote:wanneroo wrote:As it stands, the world has more trees than ever. China has planted a huge amount, the United States is heavily forested in places where it previously never was.
I would love to see the study that came up with that conclusion.
wanneroo wrote:Australian home construction is pretty shocking by American standards. I can't even believe the lack of insulation in buildings in Australia and you'd save yourself a bunch of freezing in the winter and burning up in the summer if homes were built properly.
If you use wood off of your property, I think it just comes down to some management, cull the old trees, plant new ones.
As it stands, the world has more trees than ever. China has planted a huge amount, the United States is heavily forested in places where it previously never was.
Gamerancher wrote:People have been burning wood since we stood upright and learned to use fire.
Agriculture always gets the blame in this country for "deforestation", granted, you need to clear land if you want to farm it.
But, considering 85% of the population lives within 50km of the coast, particularly the East coast, a lot of deforestation has also occurred due to urban sprawl.
What isn't considered is tree density, just land area. Clearing 1000 hectares of low scrub with the occasional tree >3m isn't taking out as much "forest" as a new 100 hectare housing development on the coast or building a kilometre of new freeway.
What is not realised is that "old growth" forest can be a net emitter of carbon, mainly due to decay, young plantation forests are the better carbon sink.
Despite the mis-information, we are planting more trees than we are cutting down.
Back on topic, the CSIRO determined that the use of firewood was the most carbon efficient method of home heating.
While not the actual study, this page does reference it if you are interested. https://www.wiseliving.com.au/firewood-sustainable
SCJ429 wrote:wanneroo wrote:As it stands, the world has more trees than ever. China has planted a huge amount, the United States is heavily forested in places where it previously never was.
I would love to see the study that came up with that conclusion.
Downunder wrote:Global over population, the most effective way for those who have concerns about resources is to stop using them all.....
bah! wrote:Rubbish as usual zaine.
It really doesn't matter how many people in underdeveloped nations use their meagre share of resources, when first worlders use all of a much larger "share".
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environm ... n-question.
Or are you playing devil's avocado again ?
wanneroo wrote:Interestingly when I used to live in New England(USA) in Connecticut, I lived in an old house built in 1710 or so. It still had the ancient ovens that were connected to the fireplaces and the foundation for a spring house, plus had two graves in the basement from the 1700s. It used to be a farm house and like all of southern New England, when they cleared the fields in the 1600s and 1700s, the soil was very rocky, so the dug up rocks were used to build fences, which still exist to this day everywhere.
ZaineB wrote:
p.s. not clicking on anything vox, dont want to get a trojan or be constantly having to wipe my pc of its adware garbage. cheers.
bah! wrote:ZaineB wrote:
p.s. not clicking on anything vox, dont want to get a trojan or be constantly having to wipe my pc of its adware garbage. cheers.
Cool excuse for gutless behaviour
bah! wrote:You don't have to socialist to work out that some brown people in a sandy ****** aren't using using up the world's resources, its 1st worlders, overwhelmingly. All you have to be is just not oblivious or stupid.
Bit rich saying I'm derailing the post when I'm responding to his bulls**t assertion and his childish excuse not to even face some data going against the same rubbish assertion.