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Why Dead Trees Are ‘the Hottest Commodity on the Planet’
Article

Why Dead Trees Are ‘the Hottest Commodity on the Planet’

Blame climate change, wildfires, hungry beetles … and Millennial home buyers.

The Atlantic, 2021


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

The home improvement project you took on during the pandemic may have turned out to be more expensive than you expected. The reason: a sharp increase in the price of lumber from Canada in the wake of beetle attacks and forest fires. In this highly informative piece from The Atlantic, Robinson Meyer explains what’s behind this price hike – and why similar factors may cause other commodity prices to surge in the near future.

Take-Aways

  • In 2020, the price of lumber in the United States increased to a record high.
  • Demand for lumber skyrocketed during the pandemic.
  • Bark-eating beetles and catastrophic wildfires curtailed the Canadian lumber supply.

About the Author

Robinson Meyer is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of the newsletter The Weekly Planet, and a co-founder of the magazine’s COVID Tracking Project.


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    J. P. 3 years ago
    This writer clearly has a left leaning bias. Global warming? Was this written based on peer reviewed science or was this narrative propagated by those who rush to judgment based on feelings and not facts. How did climate change affect the cost of copper and other commodities. <br>Quite simply, this has been a pandemic fear driven event, keeping saw mills idle for much of the time. There's plenty of wood, just not finished product.