What happened is: we gave up on fireplaces and forgot how to handle firewood. Why? Because, who has time for firewood?
Why would you come up with 'not enough time' reason if you can see practical problems with firewood immediately.
Forest and wood is not able to support high human density. To sustainably use forest wood you need small enough human density so the trees can keep getting replaced with new growing sprouts.
I hear you, but our firewood doesn't have to come from a single local forest, right? In the same way we import our AI gadgets from China, our wood could come from any forest, near or far. It's the same with any resource, really, including feeding all those city dwellers.
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If you give up on sovereignty and trust someone else with providing you wood, might as well go for more convenient option.
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