Chapter 796: Trees, Land, People

"Fine, since you agree, then the price is settled. However, there is still one matter regarding Sustainable Development that I would like to discuss with you."

Xuanyuan was very curious, as it was another term he had never heard before: "What is called Sustainable Development? It sounds quite interesting; tell me about it."

Baifeng said: "A tree, from the time the Seed is planted until it grows as tall as a person, takes at least two or three years. Some trees are even slower; the sturdier the tree, the slower it grows. Look at these ones we are felling now, these giant timbers that several people cannot even wrap their arms around—how many years must they have grown? Hundreds of years, at the very least."

What we are felling are trees from hundreds of years ago. Around your tribe now, haven't such trees already been mostly cut down? It is the same around our Huaxia City. Although it looks like nothing but forest from afar, the area of forest cleared to build this Huaxia City is already larger than the city itself.

We in Huaxia will not just build this one city; we will build more. That means we will fell even more forests. If we cut them all down in this generation, what will our descendants cut?

What we are cutting now are trees from hundreds or thousands of years ago, but we are not planting trees. Then, if our descendants need trees in a few hundred years, will they have to plant them in the ground first, wait a few decades for them to grow, and then plant more? That certainly won't do."

"Will trees really be cut to extinction? I see that there are countless forests in this Heaven and Earth. How many people do we even have? The trees we cut down are not even as many as the ones that grow from fallen Seeds every year. Baifeng, aren't you thinking a bit too much?" Although Xuanyuan understood the logic within, what his own eyes saw was not the same as this logic.

Baifeng shook his head: "Xuanyuan, we humans cannot remain this few forever. When we become strong, no longer fear wild beasts, and can rely on farming to be full, the population will grow larger and larger. We in Huaxia only had a few hundred people at the start. Later, although we took in some others, look at this young generation—they were all born to us."

How many years has it been? The number of people has already increased by many tens of thousands. The reproductive speed of humans is quite fast. And as decades pass, how many trees will one person fell in these decades? How many trees will the children they give birth to fell?"

"Although trees are also growing and constantly reproducing, they are, after all, not like Grass that can grow so quickly. When the growth rate of humans becomes faster than the trees can keep up with, we will have no trees left to cut."

"Of course, there is no problem with us cutting the trees on this land for another thousand years, but if we want our descendants to have the same resources as we do now, we must avoid unnecessary felling."

"And what about you? Baifeng, what has your Huaxia done about this? Do you not cut trees anymore?" Xuanyuan was still unwilling to believe Baifeng's argument, because reducing tree felling meant slowing down the pace of development. If he really listened to Baifeng, it would not be a good thing for the Xuanyuan Tribe.

Baifeng felt that Xuanyuan had misunderstood him, and that he himself had strayed from the point, so he hurriedly steered his train of thought in the right direction: "Oh, I mean, it is not about not cutting, but cutting selectively. Like small trees that are of no use, don't cut them. And another point is, if you must cut, you must also plant. This is something we in Huaxia can guarantee."

"The reason I say this is actually about the Chinaberry Tree. Your Xuanyuan Tribe has only so many Chinaberry Trees, and once a tree is stripped of its bark, it will die immediately. We need Melia Bark constantly—not just for a few years, but for at least the next few hundred years."

"Therefore, when you are harvesting Melia Bark, if you can take it from the branches, do not take it from the trunk. It would be best to find some useless barren hills and plant more Chinaberry Trees. Even if the current ones are all used up and dead, the small saplings will have grown for some years and can be used again, right?"

"The main core of this Sustainable Development is not to let things go extinct—at least, do not let them go extinct. We in Huaxia, even when hunting, will not kill an entire herd of beasts. We only kill a portion and leave the majority to ensure we still have things to hunt later."

"I have even stipulated in our laws that our hunters cannot hunt wild beasts during their breeding season, and those with young cannot be killed either. In the past, when we lacked food, we would not consider these things, but now that we do not lack it, we must think about leaving these things for future generations."

This was not Baifeng's thinking being too advanced or him moaning without an illness; the concept of Sustainable Development was proposed by our ancestors long ago. Chin Law, Confucius, and Xunzi all had thoughts regarding Sustainable Development.

Even in the Zhou Dynasty, there were specific laws like the 'Decree on Felling Chong', and specific officials responsible for managing the development of mountains and forests. Because the ancestors of the Zhou people were forced to migrate due to over-development, they already had experience. The destructive power of humans toward Nature is much greater than one might imagine.

Baifeng used the Chinaberry Tree as a case study to explain to Xuanyuan, and Xuanyuan, seeing the small and knowing the great, immediately understood the logic: "You asked us to plant Tea Trees; is it also because of this line of thinking?"

Baifeng nodded: "Mm, that is indeed part of it, but it only accounts for a very small portion. It is mainly to increase the yield of Tea Leaves. It is fortunate that you only pick the leaves and do not cut the trees when harvesting tea; otherwise, we would have no Tea Leaves to drink in a few years."

The corner of Xuanyuan's mouth twitched involuntarily. Baifeng did not know that the people of his Xuanyuan Tribe often folded or cut down Tea Trees just for the convenience of picking leaves. Some Tea Trees were especially tall, and they couldn't climb that high just to pick leaves; it was easier to just cut them down. They really had never thought about the future. Fortunately, Huaxia helped them plant Tea Trees, or they would have one less source of income in the future.

Baifeng noticed the subtle change in Xuanyuan's expression and could not help but be stunned: "No way, you really do cut down trees just to pick some Tea Leaves?"

Xuanyuan did not hide it: "That situation does indeed exist. Thanks to your reminder today, I have finally understood. Indeed, when looking at things, one cannot just look at the immediate benefits; one must cast their gaze further. I thought I had looked far enough, but I discovered there were still things I had not noticed."

Seeing that Xuanyuan had figured it out, Baifeng spoke freely: "Xuanyuan, these things are not something I can do alone; you must certainly participate as well. Actually, it is not as simple as our descendants having no trees to use because we cut them down. There will be more and more terrifying things that appear, and in the end, we will only be able to leave here and go elsewhere to survive."

"Only if we treat this land well will this land treat us well. As for this matter, I think you can go ask Guangchengzi. He should be able to explain to you clearly what kind of relationship exists between trees, land, and people."