And yet, it [planting trees] is a wasteful act, precisely because it isn't the first thing worthy of funding. You are diverting present resources from high-ROI investments to a low-ROI investment. This is wasteful.
I don't buy this. Planting trees is more wasteful than sitting on your money? Not in my world.
Whether you buy it or not, it's true. Planting trees at a 2.3% return is more wasteful than "sitting on your money" (a.k.a. investing the excess production that money represents) at a 5% return. Remember that the only reason you can get interest (or deflation) and thus gain anything from "sitting on your money" is that your deferred consumption is allowing others to make investments with a return which exceeds the interest/deflation rate. It's not a matter of
whether investment happens, just
whose investment--yours at 2.3%, or theirs at 5%.