Forests

USING CARBOHYDRATES INSTEAD OF HYDROCARBONS TO MANAGE SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY OPERATIONS IN COSTA RICA We have reported on Finca Leola several times in the past few years, because their model for profitable reforestation is one of the most positive, encouraging developments we've ever seen - nurturing economic development through tropical reforestation, via an operation designed to sustainably grow and harvest timber. In our report "From Deforesting to Reforesting," sequential graphic images illustrate the concept - convert deforested land into tree plantations using "pioneer trees" that provide a cash crop, then as these trees are gradually thinned and eventually completely harvested, a diverse forest of...

THE KEY IS TO BEGIN LONG BEFORE THE SPARKS FLY The reasons forest fires become catastrophic conflagrations are many - in the Western United States, years of unsustainable fire suppression, for example, is often the primary culprit. Extinguishing fires that used to burn naturally before humans arrived and intervened guarantees that today, when a fire does get out of control, there is a huge store of tinder that would never have otherwise accumulated. Adding to this are well-intentioned restrictions on timber removal that create tree densities far higher than these forest ecosystems originally held. Complicating this challenge is the increasing encroachment of human...

How fares the singular Patagonian Cypress, the Alerce, these majestic 200+ foot trees, with lifespans exceeding 4,000 years, populating the western shores of temperate South America?  From Chile's mediterranean mid-section, southwards until the escarpments of the Andes begin to moderate into a broader expanse of multiple ridges and mountain ranges, rainwatered from the Atlantic, through river gorges and ascending rolling and rugged hillsides alike, deeper and deeper into the south towards land's end, these awesome, white-barked giants are trees of surpassing beauty and grandeur. How is the Alerce doing?  And why can't I grow them in California? The Alerce...

Back in April 2005 we published the feature "Mangroves Stop Tsunami," which explained that much of the devastation from the tsunami that struck South East Asia in December 2004 could have been avoided if the mangrove forests hadn't been ripped out to make room for aquaculture and timber.  After the devastating cyclone hit Myanmar earlier this month, there was plenty of talk regarding the possible causes, but not much recognition of the role mangrove forests could have played in preventing much of the destruction. One exception to this was the Hong Kong edition of the Wall Street Journal, where in a May 9th report entitled "Forest Clearing May Have Worsened Toll," author Jane Spencer provided some facts...

On the U.K. based website The Independent, their science section published a report on March 19th entitled "Dams: Deep Trouble." Below this ominous title, the tag line read "Are vast dams around the world masking the full extent of sea level rise?" The story goes on to state "over the past 50 years, new dams and reservoirs have held back some 10,800 cubic kilometers of water, which would have been enough to raise global sea levels by about 30mm." We crunched the numbers and came in at 32mm, and while the 10,800 km3 of water in reservoirs seems a bit high, let's go with it. But the implication - that we've stopped building dams and therefore we'll see a sea level rise of somewhat more than an inch - is...

In the March 27th issue of Time Magazine, an in-depth article entitled "The Clean Energy Scam" by Michael Grunwald is indicative of how rapid the descent has been for biofuel in the eyes of environmentalists and mainstream media.  One isn't sure whether to cheer or be derisive - after several years of relentless molding of public opinion and public policy to encourage biofuels, the environmentalists and media are now trying to tear it all down as abruptly as they built it all up. About one year ago we posted "Biofuel or Biohazard," where we listed eight criteria that - ideally - ought to be considered when encouraging a market for biofuel: (1)  Biofuel cannot displace food crops. (2)  Biofuel cannot displace rainforest. (3)  Biofuel cannot displace critical wildlife habitat. (4)  Production of biofuel must be decisively energy positive. (5)  Biofuel must not exacerbate water scarcity, either in the...

If you read EcoWorld at all, you'll know where we stand. Today we continued to post on the listserve of www.treelink.org, an excellent resource for urban foresters to exchange tactical information on how to plant and maintain healthy urban treescapes. When their dialogue moves from tactics to strategy and theory, a few realities emerge. First of all, most of these urban foresters work for government agencies, and secondly, nearly all of them subscribe to "smart growth" principles. And over the past few days we've indulged in a flurry of posts on that listserve to hopefully convince some of them to think twice about all the conventional "smart growth" wisdom that has become almost impossible to challenge. Eight fundamental criticisms of smart growth constitute our premise, expressed in some detail in our post "Letter from Wingnuttia." Here are our criticisms of smart growth principles in brief: 1 - It creates "urban...

We had a comment a few days ago from someone taking us to task for letting up on Biofuel.  Yet haven't we been beating the drum the loudest?  In our post "Reforesting vs. Biofuel" the reader will see links to just a few among dozens of reports posted here, warning how carbon credits fund rainforest destruction which causes climate change.  Here is an excerpt: "Our concern for what we consider to be a global catastrophe is well documented, in posts such as Deforestation Diesel, Brazilian vs. Californian Ethanol, Biofuel Monocultures, Biofueled Global Warming, Biofuel is NOT Carbon Neutral, Biofueled Deforestation, Ethanol & Water, Biofuel or Biohazard?, When Green is Brown, Is Biofuel Water Positive?, and many others.  Check all our posts in the Biofuel category, or the posts in our Global Warming category.  We haven’t wavered." Reforest the tropics, and scrub soot & aerosols from smokestacks. A feasible agenda for...

The recent launch of Tata's "Nano," along with the high interest in the Smart "Fortwo" micro-hybrid car, indicate rapid steps towards a scenario where hundreds of millions of affordable, gas-sipping vehicles are sold over the next 10-20 years - a most welcome development. After all, the independently owned automobile is probably one of the most liberating innovations in the history of the world. So how will the world adapt to 1.0 billion more automobiles on the roads? Per acre, almighty Redwoods are among the greatest carbon sinks. In our latest interactive online spreadsheet, "Can Forests Offset Automotive CO2" we evaluate the impact of 1.0 billion new cars on the road in terms of the ability of...

CRADLE TO CRADLE SUSTAINABILITY EVENTUALLY WILL YIELD RESOURCE ABUNDANCE, BUT THE TRANSITION IS NOT EASY When we founded EcoWorld back in 1995, one of the editorial missions of our online magazine was to support the goal to "double the timber mass of the planet within a 50 year period ending 2045." Since then we've learned a lot - we've learned that global forest mass, overall, is not diminishing any more. We've observed several encouraging trends - in 2007 for the first time in history, over 50% of the world's population has moved into cities. It is now clear that the world's human population will probably max at around 8.5 billion people, and that...

It has never been easy to get figures for actual rainforest area - and our estimates based on what we could find had settled as follows:  There were about 8.0 million square miles of tropical rainforest in the world 150 years ago, and we're now down to around 3.0 million square miles. Absolutely devastated former forest, hopefully on track to regenerate. (Photo: WildMadagascar.org) Climate change consists of three very distinct, only somewhat interrelated phenomena:  global warming, extreme weather, and droughts.  To reiterate:  Our position is that all three of these phenomena are worsened when tropical rainforests are lost - and that the climate consequences of tropical...

When green technology delivers decentralized solutions to water and energy - from hi-tech and low maintenance, ultra-effective septic systems to affordable rooftop photovoltaics and electrical storage systems, there are a lot of public works contractors who will be looking for something to do. A green mega-project: High rise agriculture for food & biofuel. (Photo: www.verticalfarm.com) Fortunately, we have the answer:  Mega-Projects.  Before leveling off in the next couple of generations at approximately 8.0 billion, we will add nearly 2.0 billion more people to the world's population.  This increase, combined with the well established trend of migration from rural areas to...