deforestation

Carbon offsets that go to developing world forests rule

Here's an uplifting article by Rhett Butler over at Mongabay. It enables my personal eco-fantasy. It's titled, Avoided deforestation could help fight third world poverty under global warming pact. $43 billion could flow into developing countries:

When trees are cut greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere -- roughly 20 percent of annual emissions of such heat-trapping gases result from deforestation and forest degradation. Avoided deforestation is the concept where countries are paid to prevent deforestation that would otherwise occur. Funds come from industrialized countries seeking to meet emissions commitments under international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol. Policymakers and environmentalists alike find the idea attractive because it could help fight climate change at a low cost while improving living standards for some of the world's poorest people, safeguarding biodiversity, and preserving other ecosystem services. A number of prominent conservation biologists and development agencies including the World Bank and the U.N. have already endorsed the idea. [Even the United States government has voiced support for the plan.]

The article also arrived just in time to support my argument presented here. Don't you just love it when you find people who share your point of view?

Coffee giant may be involved in deforestation in Indonesia

For being a big-ass chain, Starbucks Coffee at least has a reputation as a socially responsible big-ass chain.

They've partnered with Conservation International for their Conservation Coffee program, "to encourage environmentally sound coffee-growing practices and to improve farmer livelihoods" in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, "and other Conservation Coffee™ sites around the world" that apparently don't warrant mentioning.

They recycle "at 1,544 of our stores, of which 61 percent have a recycling program." (Side note: I'm spoiled here in hippie Seattle, but it's depressing that there are Starbucks stores "located in communities where commercial recycling facilities are not available.")

They've got a composting program, Environmental Footprint Team, and green thoughts about store design and operations.

But then there's this (it's from April -- you know, I've been busy):

Umbra on plants and global warming

Dear Umbra, My simple understanding of global warming is that we are introducing long-buried carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is shifting the balance, leading to a host of undesirable issues. CO2 is consumed by plants, so here’s my thought: Could we grow crops that consume a lot of CO2 (I’m thinking bamboo here, which […]

It’s time for conservationists to collaborate with an agency they’ve long demonized

In 1982, Earth First!er Dave Foreman used form letters to blitz the U.S. Forest Service with administrative appeals, blocking over 100 timber sales that threatened roadless areas in several Western states. There’s a new ray of hope among forest activists. Photo: iStockphoto. This act of paper monkeywrenching sums up the relationship conservationists had with the […]

Big Trouble in Big China

News flash: China’s environment is bad and getting worse A Washington Post exploration of China’s environmental problems confirms all the sorry tales you’ve been hearing. The country contains at least six of the world’s 10 most polluted cities, experts say, leading to respiratory problems for millions of citizens. Deforestation in north and central China means […]

The Mahogany and the Ecstasy

Brazil clamped down on the logging of mahogany in the Amazon Rainforest last week, putting in place new rules that require loggers to present plans showing how harvesting will be done sustainably. Brazil produces about half of the world’s supply of mahogany, a highly prized — and highly endangered — wood sought for the making […]

The Evidence Is Thin

A new report by the federal government has found that very few forest-thinning projects have been stalled by appeals from environmentalists, giving the lie to allegations to the contrary by the Bush administration. The General Accounting Office reported yesterday that the U.S. Forest Service was able to proceed with 95 percent of thinning projects within […]

Gone With the Flow

The Khasi Hills of northeastern India are one of the wettest places on Earth, typically experiencing torrential rains throughout the monsoon season and laying claim to the world record of 1,000 inches of rainfall in just one year. Now, though, the Khasi Hills are drying up due to environmental changes wrought by pollution, deforestation, the […]

Nigerian activist Odigha Odigha fights to halt illegal logging

In southeastern Nigeria, private logging companies are felling the country’s last remaining rainforests. These hardwood forests shelter the highest diversity of primates in the world and some 20 percent of the planet’s butterfly species. Odigha Odigha. Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize. Odigha Odigha grew up in and around these forests, in the Ijagham community of Cross […]