A number of related questions out of confusion.
Aside from whether cork or plastic is better for wine. . .
Ok, so I was under the impression for the last few years that plastic “cork” usage was good because the cork forests were being overharvested, etc. Now I read an article about (some) environmentalists getting together with cork farmers to argue for real cork: the argument goes that if they don’t keep up the forests they’ll be replaced with something more economically viable like eucalyptus.
Since that side of the argument, at least as far as the article that I read reports, is to the benefit of the farmers, I can’t see it automatically as disinterested but now I’m confused. What’s the environmental impact? Are they overharvesting the cork forests and endangering them, or are the farmers the only stewards of the forests and if they don’t use them economically they’ll just get mowed down? If anyone gives a damn about them, why can’t a government just protect them as natural forests? Does “wilderness” have to be lucrative to be allowed to survive? Is this a disingenuous argument on the part of the farmers to improve their business? Are all cork forests at risk, or just, ahem, theirs?