“I would give my life for a tree.”
(Joyce Kilmer?? /sarc)
The still extremely popular advertisement exhortation and corollary is:
"Use a plastic bag and save a tree."
oil --> plastic
tree --> paper
Back in the '80s on a long flight I had a detailed conversation with a top executive of International Paper Company regarding their operation of large tracts continuously growing renewable loblolly pines for the kraft paper used in bags and corrugated cardboard. The unique conditions for growing such trees is in the North American Southeast, whose trees produces paper for the finest corrugated board unparalleled anywhere else in the world.
And one of the best sources for kraft paper and cardboard boxes is the recycling of clean bundled boxes returned for recycling, without having to execute the conversion of wood chips into pulp for paper production.
The sun, chlorophyll, water, and carbon dioxide just keeps on producing renewable wood embodying the stored sun's energy, which at the worst can be recovered through burning of paper too dirty for recycling.
Common sense: oil is not renewable, trees are--tracts harvested every 33 years--just like cows or fish or cabbage or -- well, you name it. And continuously profitable.
Liberal enviromentalista illogic: use non-living plastic to avoid killing a growing tree in its maturity, an obscene misuse of a living shade-giving plant, thus diminishing the number of trees because of selfish reasons.
Unequalled, supreme, blatant stupidity.