: And of course, massive amounts of iron forging would
: involve massive need for fuel - thus, deforestation.
Two objections:
1rst, TRO used tharsis as their forge, not wood
2nd, even if, hypothetically, the forests were burned for fuel can we still rule out this deforestation as a function of the "kill younger races" imperative? A tree can still be a younger race being felled with iron even if its being burned for fuel. In fact the sheer amount of wood created by the project of exterminating younger races might even have been a cause instead of an effect of the excessive smelting of iron; what else were the TRO gonna do with all that wood right?
