Use your no. 2 pencil to write down your views on this trade-and-environment debate: According to the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), a rain-forest wood called jelutong is being logged at a dangerous rate in Indonesia. The reason is that pencil makers recently shifted about 15 percent of their production from the more expensive cedar wood to jelutong, saving $1 on every dozen pencils. The Incense Cedar Institute, which represents three major companies growing cedar in the United States, echoes the concerns of RAN about the threat to tropical rain forests. Speaking for the pencil makers, executives of Dixon Ticonderoga explain that the jelutong wood in Indonesia is not gathered from rain forests, but is planted and harvested on plantations.

What should be done about the use of jelutong wood in making pencils? Should the government of Indonesia block the export of jelutong wood?

Should the government of the United States tax or prohibit jelutong imports? Defend your view. If you feel you need more information than is given here, what extra information would be decisive?