Wood economy

The existence of a wood economy, or more broadly, a forest economy (since in many countries a bamboo economy predominates), is a prominent matter in many developing countries as well as in many other nations with temperate climate and especially in those with low temperatures. These are generally the countries with greater forested areas. The uses of wood in furniture, buildings, bridges, and as a source of energy are widely known. Additionally, wood from trees and bushes, can be employed in a wide variety, including those produced from wood pulp, as cellulose in paper, celluloid in early photographic film, cellophane, and rayon (a substitute for silk).

At the end of their normal usage, wood products can be burnt to obtain thermal energy, or can be used as a fertilizer. The potential environmental damage that a wood economy could occasion include (problems of reduction the biodiversity due to monoculture forestry—the intensive cultivation of very few types of trees); and CO₂ emissions. However, forests can aid in reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide and therefore decrease global warming.

The wood economy is historically the starting point of the civilizations worldwide, since eras preceding the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. It necessarily preceded ages of metals by many centuries, as the melting of metals was possible only through the discovery of techniques to light fire (usually obtained by the scraping of two very dry wooden rods) and the building of many simple machines and rudimentary tools, as canes, club handles, bows, arrows, lances. One of the most ancient handmade articles ever found is one smoothed pricked of wood (Clacton Spear) 250,000 years old (third interglacial period), that was buried under sediments in England, at Clacton-on-Sea.

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