[bobthepanda]

If you’re interested, there’s a interesting youtube video about how Japan needs to thin its forests. The youtuber initially set out to create a video about how great Japan’s forest coverage was, but it turns out that after the war (when the forests were stripped first for the war effort, then for the rebuilding) Japan replanted with just two types of tree, Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress, for their supposed superiority for industrial use. However, it was never cheaper than imported timber, so the industry fell apart and could not afford to maintain the forests.

Today these forests are thick and overgrown with these trees, and because they don’t let in much light through their leaves their forest floors are barren. Japan also estimates that allergy season from all the resultant pollen costs $2B a year in economic output.

https://youtu.be/VC4gRGPbTqE