AURA

Just so you don’t think I’m exaggerating, I’m pointing you to the

World Resources Institute, The 1994 Information Please Environmental Almanac, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994), pp. 163-164:

which says: “Although the United States still has about two thirds of the 1.1 billion acres of forests that were present at the time of the Pilgrims, most of today’s forests are not old growth, having been cut at least once since colonial times. Estimates vary, but most sources now say that only 10 to 15 percent of the nation’s original forests are uncut. Environmentalists say that in the Pacific North­west, only 10 percent of the original acreage remains.”

So Columbus got here a lousy 500 years ago, and we’ve acted as if there’s no tomorrow. Maybe there won’t be.