Remember in the 1990s, when the rainforests were alleged to be disappearing and forests of all kinds were being clear‐​cut around the globe at such an alarming rate that mass species die‐​offs were inevitable and the planet’s lungs would soon give out lest we, I don’t know, turn the globe into one giant Ted Kaczynski National Forest? 


Well, it turns out that this is yet one more doomsday predication that won’t likely pan out. According to an article that appears today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 22 of the 50 countries around the world with the most forestland saw forest acreage expansions over the past 15 years, and most of the rest are transitioning from deforestation to reforestation. Now that’s out of the way, let’s move on to the next “end is near” prognostication .…