It was called deforestation. Until coal was the accepted method of staying warm, wood was the preferred method of staying warm in mud huts for the peasants. We’re heading this way again. We are about to become serfs again. Serfs with high capacity guns.
My farm has a limited amount of wood available, and I have relatives in parts of the country where trees are scarce. Over the last few years I’ve been experimenting to identify annual crops that could be used as firewood.
So far, the best ones have been corncobs and sunflower disks. Don’t know if that helps anyone, but it could be useful if firewood becomes harder to find.
(It’s also useful if anyone has trouble with the cutting and hauling side of things, because they’re a lot lighter weight and don’t require a saw or splitting ax.)