On our family reunion I had the opportunity to teach some teenager (and under) kids how to build a debris shelter. They took to it with gusto, and although we ran out of time, it was beginning to take a nice shape. They started out with too short a ridge pole, though, so we named it the Hobbit Hut.

I guess the next generation isn't lost, yet.

Cool!!

Looks a helluva lot better than anything I built as a kid.

Good job teaching the younglings. You very may well have ended up saving one of their lives in the future...

"I remember when I was a kid and we had this crazy uncle that taught us...."

At least the dog will have a place to sleep.

i always cringe when i see live pine used in "try out"
shelters..

The funny thing about trees, they are a renewable resource. Plant a seed, add water and time and you have another tree. The lumber industry (and everyone that has a home) depends on this.

No need to cringe. I taught the kids to take just a couple of boughs from each tree. As you can plainly see, the wood used for the frame was dead-fall.

A tree missing one or two boughs, as I'm sure you know, will not hurt that tree's lifespan.

I guess I need to include the following disclaimer: No trees were seriously harmed during this exercise. Maybe the tree union will want to sue.

I don’t think that we are in danger of trees becoming extinct. There are a large number of trees out there, even in a city. My work takes me into high-rise apartments, and looking out from 10-floors above the city, it’s amazing how many trees there are in the city. They block you from seeing streets and a lot of houses. You would never think this because of the message put out that we are destroying the planet. I question and don’t buy into this message of mankind as the destroyer of the planet.

If you live in a home and it has wood in it, you through your action of buying and living in said home condone trees being cut down.


And it is as simple as planting more trees, the forest industry is the number one planter of trees in this country. Like I said trees are a renewable resource.

+1 BobS. A couple boughs to prove a point is nothing. I've seen more damage done by one animal in rutting season than that project

...oh and to get this thread back on track...great teaching opportunity and i bet much talked about the rest of the time there

I'll take us back off track again... way off track.

There are currently 6.6 billion people alive on this planet. This number will only continue to rise. We are the top of the food chain. We have no natural predators keeping our numbers in check. Our industry enables us to consume and pollute at an unprecedented rate.

The Earth took 4.5 billion years to evolve into its current balance, and we have begun changing that balance in a mere 100 years. As our numbers grow, so will our industry, and so in turn our consumption and pollution will grow as well. There is no question that the human species will destroy this planet unless we are able to recognize the inevitable future and do what is necessary to change our course.