The world is going to run out of hydrocarbons that are stored as coal, oil, gas, and the like. There is nothing sustainable about that resource. The only thing to do about a dwindling energy source is to replace it with something that is sustainable... this is where hydro, wind, solar, and possibly geothermal come in.

Soil, on the other hand is also a finite resource, but its existence is essential to survival. If we are slowly shipping our soil south, then eventually all of our soil will be down south. That is a logically consistent hypothesis if we are not shipping an equivalent amount of nutrients back.

I did not say I had issues with people harvesting trees, just the manner in which it is practiced. 

When we run out of oil, coal, gas, and uranium, what do you think will power our ships, jets, cars?