The more optimistic global warming scientists believe we have a good 10 years to deal with global warming. After that, all bets are off. Some even say all bets are off right now, but I think we still have time. But either way, the time to act is 20 years ago...or, since we were to goddamned stupid to do that, how about right now.

My main efforts this particular year have been the preservation of forests, reforestation, and preservation of wetlands because these three things will be absolutely critical for our abilities to deal with both global warming per se (due to their carbon sequestration abilities) and in dealing with the CONSEQUENCES of global warming, including flooding, soil erosion, etc.

So, in the spirit of this particular focus, this comes from something I wrote long ago, but is still very relevant and bears repetition. We ALL need to pay attention to these things because if we don't, we are screwed, our children are screwed and our grandchildren are screwed. Beyond that I cannot predict.

As I read Jared Diamond’s excellent book Collapse a couple of years ago, I was struck by the fact that among all the various environmental issues that led to major economic and social problems, deforestation stood out as a major factor in almost every case examined, from Easter Island to modern Montana. Throughout history, and continuing today, deforestation has been one of the single most common reasons for the agricultural and economic collapse of civilizations and nations. The simple explanation for this is that forests represent not only a major resource whose depletion affects not just the logging industry, but also construction and transportation industries as well as, in most places, heating and cooking. But deeper than this simple explanation is a much more fundamental one. Forests are a major determinant of rainfall patterns, water runoff patterns and soil erosion patterns. Deforestation almost invariably reduces rainfall regionally. Deforestation leads to much faster water runoff leading to disastrous rainy season floods followed by dry season droughts in areas where prior to deforestation water runoff was better held by forests, preventing floods and mitigating the dry season. And deforestation, both by removing extensive root systems that hold soil in place and because of it’s limiting rapid water runoff, leads to greatly increased soil erosion. In areas of the world where deforestation has occurred, agriculture declines due to water scarcity, rainy season floods, and massive soil depletion. More distant problems are the loss of reliable watercourses due to the floods and erosion, often rendering hydroelectric power and irrigation impossible, and the destruction of downstream delta fisheries that depend on the nutrients washed downstream by a healthy river/soil ecosystem. Thus forestry, agriculture, infrastructure and fisheries suffer severely after the deforestation of an area and this alone has led to many economic crashes in many parts of the world through history.

Bangladesh is one horrible example of this. In and around Bangladesh deforestation has been extensive. This has led to a nearly complete breakdown of the healthy watershed leading to many of the problems outlined above. On a yearly basis the entire watershed is subject to devastating floods in the rainy season, followed by severe drought in the dry season. This renders agriculture nearly impossible and infrastructure maintenance nearly impossible and so Bangladesh is and is likely to remain one of the world’s poorest, most devastated nations. This example of the dangers of deforestation has been within my consciousness since the late 1980's. And yet the warning has not been heeded.

Haiti suffers from a similar fate. Haiti is largely deforested and so suffers from the same kinds of floods and droughts, has river systems that have become unreliable or completely destroyed, preventing any hydroelectric power, and has a soil erosion problem that has severely curtailed agriculture in Haiti. By contrast, the Dominican Republic, sharing the island of Hispanola with Haiti and sharing a similar history of unrest, dictatorships and military invasions from the US, has thanks to one of it’s bloody dictators, maintained its forests. Large parts of the Dominican Republic are, in essence, protected national parks. The Dominican dictator responsible for this even used the military to kick out rich landowners from illegal residences and illegal forestry projects. By making sure even the privileged and rich were prevented from overexploiting the forests, this dictator, brutal and repressive though he was, has allowed the Dominican Republic to preserve much of its soil, many of its river systems (hence allowing it to develop hydroelectric projects), more of an infrastructure and healthier fisheries than its neighbor Haiti. In essence, the Dominican Republic does have most of the same problems as Haiti, but none of them have been as bad and development has been more possible largely due to the preservation of the forests.

This is not to say that deforestation explains everything. Far from it. The main message in Jared Diamond's book Collapse is that there are many interconnected reasons both for societal collapse and societal continuance. But it is clear than one of the main determinants in the survival or collapse of a society has been its ability to maintain or, barring that, restoring its forests. Germany, Japan and Iceland are examples of places that suffered from extreme deforestation, had their economies affected, but then began a program of forest preservation and reforestation that has allowed the recovery of their economies.

Today we know that deforestation also contributes to another environmental danger that will affect us economically very soon—global warming. Forests and forest soils serve as a sink for carbon. Deforestation generally leads to the release of this carbon into the atmosphere as CO2, contributing to global warming. Next to the burning of fossil fuels (which represent the stored carbon of prehistoric forests) deforestation may be the top contributor to increasing atmospheric CO2. Conversely, reforestation re-sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, mitigating global warming. This is not 100% true due to other factors, but as a first approximation, and in combination with the factors mentioned above, reforestation and preservation of forests is almost ALWAYS a good idea and almost always is of economic benefit in the long run.

We face many environmental problems that could ruin our nation and our global civilization. I do not believe that we will produce our own extinction anytime soon. But increased disease, starvation, war, terrorism, crowding, and pollution will accompany declining standards of living world wide…including here in the US. The less we do now, the worse these problems will be and the more expensive their solutions will be in the future. It is almost an axiom in economics that the sooner you deal with a problem the cheaper it will be to solve. The Republicans want to wait until the problems are well advanced before they even admit they exist. This is the most expensive and stupidest way to deal with problems.

We all know reducing fossil fuel use is very important. I have discussed this in previous issues. But today I want to say that management of our forests—preservation of existing forests and reforestation of deforested regions—is one of the most important things we can do for our children and future generations. Preserving and increasing forests will preserve timber resources, soil, fresh water, and biodiversity for the future and will mitigate some of the severe economic problems that plague the world.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION:

So, what can we as individuals do about deforestation? Here are some suggestions:

First of all, recycle paper and try to switch all your paper consumption to recycled paper. This is extremely important in reducing our use of forest products. Joy and I have managed to switch almost all of our paper use to recycled paper, mostly purchased through Real Goods (also called Gaiam and Seventh Generation). (Real Goods also sells alternative energy items like solar panels, small hydroelectric generators for homes near rivers, wind turbines, etc. and so is a good, if not particularly cheap, path to energy independence)

Second, when you do purchase lumber, you can insist that all lumber you buy is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This is a non-profit agency that combines the timber industry and environmentalists to ensure that forest products are sustainably grown and harvested. It is the only certification process that keeps track of the entire “chain of custody” so that certified lumber is not mixed with uncertified lumber along the way. This process sometimes adds to the cost of wood products but often it does not. Generally if the FSC certified product is more expensive it reflects only the fact that people in that area are willing to pay more for it, not any real increases in production cost. If you work through a contractor, make sure that he or she purchases only FSC certified products. If you are purchasing yourself, many stores, including Home Depot and Lowes, now carry FSC certified products. Public pressure forced Home Depot to start carrying FSC products only a few years ago. Be sure to ASK when you are purchasing lumber or other wood products to be sure that the FSC certification is there. (Joy and I have largely avoided this by scavenging all our furniture, though in retrospect our new floors, which the building installed, would have been a good opportunity to ask for FSC certified wood.)

I should note that there are several other certification groups. Most of them have been started by the lumber industry without consultation with environmental groups, involve self-regulation by each company (“Oh, yes. I PROMISE this wood was harvested sustainably”) and do not follow the chain of custody. The FSC certification is the most stringent to date.

Third, we have to support forest protection and reforestation projects. The following groups are my suggestions. I am choosing ones that are small, may not be well known, or focus on some of the areas that most need protection/reforestation right now. I also have favored groups that integrate forest projects with the local community, a combination that has been shown to work much better than environmental projects that ignore the local communities. It may surprise you that the Amazon is not one of the places I focus on, but this is because it is not in as much of a crisis as the areas I have chosen. It may be soon, but it isn’t yet. Please check out these groups and see if you can help any of them.

I. National Motivation Movement For Haiti Reforestation, Inc. (HAITI)
PO Box 2328, East Orange , NJ 07019

The M.M.N.R.H. Inc. is a environmental, ecological, reforestation Organization for the country of Haiti, with also a scholarship and relief program for the United States and Haiti. EIN: 06-1719931. I chose this group because Haiti is in such desperate need of help, both to restore its forests, to help its people, and to reduce pressure on its neighbor, the Dominican Republic.

II. ROKPA INTERNATIONAL (TIBET, NEPAL and ZIMBABWE): carries on many projects in Nepal, Tibet and Zimbabwe, including the replanting of the deforested areas, planting of new areas, protecting existing forests, flora and fauna in Tibet.

III. Alliance for International Reforestation, Inc. (GUATAMALA and NICARAGUA) AIR, is a non-profit organization working to make a difference for the people of Guatemala and Nicaragua. AIR plants trees, establishes tree nurseries, provides environmental education for teachers and farmers, digs wells, builds fuel-efficient brick ovens, and helps to educate everyone about the environmental challenges facing Central America. AIR-Guatemala ("AIRES" in Spanish) was named The Best Environmental NGO in Guatemala for 2004, by the national government's forestry institute, Instituto Nacional de Bosques (INAB). AIR was the smallest NGO of dozens nominated, but was still judged the most effective, which is a testament to AIR's efficiency as well as the skill and dedication of our staff.

IV. Trees, Water, People: (NORTH and CENTRAL AMERICA) Trees, Water, People is composed of a group of dedicated environmentalists who feel strongly about making the world a better place for people through improving their environment. They believe that natural resources are best protected when local people play an active role in their care and management and that the preservation of local trees, wetlands, and watersheds is essential to establish the long-term social, economic, and environmental viability of communities. They work in several nations in North and Central America.

V: Wildlife Conservation Society projects: New Yorkers can be proud of this one since it is OUR zoos (including the one we take Jacob and Sarah too in Prospect Park) that support the following projects:

a. RWANDA: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) began work in Rwanda in 1978, with support for the interdisciplinary research of Amy Vedder and Bill Weber. Their investigation of mountain gorilla ecology and the socio-economic context for conservation led Vedder and Weber to establish a program of mountain gorilla tourism in Rwanda as a means of generating revenue and employment to help protect gorillas and their habitat. The success of this effort reversed the gorillas' decline and helped restore their numbers to 380 in 2004. To protect the forest's extraordinary levels of species richness and endemism, the government of Rwanda created the Nyungwe National Park in 2004. The WCS continues to work on the conservation and management of this park.

b. Albertine Rift Program: covering the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tanganyika and working in three African nations, this project takes a regional rather than local approach to conservation. Using satellite data and coordinating groups across borders, this program is helping to preserve parks that protect gorillas, chimps, 29 other endemic mammalian species and 42 endemic bird species.

c. Other WCS programs: honestly there are many good programs that the NYC zoos support worldwide.

And I want to add another group to those I list above. Above I am thinking globally, thinking of stabilizing the global situation and deal with global warming. The following group deals with wetlands throughout the South and so helps to protect the areas that are most open to flooding. We have to protect our wetlands if we want to protect our coastlines:

Ducks Unlimited conserves, restores, and manages wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. These habitats also benefit other wildlife and people. The Southern Regional Office (SRO), located in Ridgeland, MS was established in 1990 to protect and restore wetlands and other wildlife habitat in the southeastern United States. Today, the SRO carries out conservation programs in 15 southern states that include some of the most important wintering habitat on the continent. More than one million acres of waterfowl habitat has been conserved from Kansas south to Texas, east to Florida, and north to the Carolinas.

Donate to Ducks Unlimited to help protect American wetlands.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

| | | | | | | |