[ethanbond]

But the upside, financially and environmentally, is not nearly as substantial.

[stasmo]

Good point. Environmentally it would probably be net negative to stop using trees and move the production to a lab that consumes electricity.

[mcbits]

We can keep using trees, but this particular use of trees is already energy-intensive, materially intensive (thousands of miles of plastic tubes), sensitive to the weather each year, and geographically limited.