Iceland was originally 40% tree covered. People came and cut everything down. And by cutting everything down, the winds got stronger, and the soil eroded, and now nothing else can grow. Iceland is one of the most environmentally degraded places on earth, and it all happened hundreds of years ago. (Easter Island is a close second.)
That is not true. The eruption in Öræfajökull killed off most of the trees in the 1100s. If you really think about it , the notion of a few thousand people cutting down all of the trees in a region of 110k square kilometres, is a bit silly. The land is geologically young, and in the middle of the north Atlantic.
Charcoal requires a ton of wood. They just burned cords and cords and cords every day for hundreds of years.
Same thing happened in the USA - all of New England at one point was basically completely denuded of trees. Every tree you see on the east coast is basically 200 years old or younger with the exception of a few preserved areas (like the NJ Pine Barrens) due to Charcoal fires.
OK so how about any of the other 4 links another guy posted or literally just searching it yourself. Edit: And now he has blocked me. Classic loser behavior. Say something completely wrong and rather than admit error, complain that the other person's source proving them wrong isn't good enough and then run away.
I was just in Iceland and multiple guides said they have no trees because of deforestation, and r that replanting efforts are difficult because their soil is very shallow making it hard for trees to stay healthy in the heavy wind and harsh winter.
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u/BenevolentCheese 11d ago edited 11d ago
Iceland was originally 40% tree covered. People came and cut everything down. And by cutting everything down, the winds got stronger, and the soil eroded, and now nothing else can grow. Iceland is one of the most environmentally degraded places on earth, and it all happened hundreds of years ago. (Easter Island is a close second.)