logging

Why do we compete even though we know it hurts us?

Not beary funny. Photo: Art Wolfe, Inc. I’ve heard the joke about the bear before, and so, probably, have you. Two guys are sitting outside their tent in a forest campsite when they see a huge angry bear charging toward them. One starts lacing up his running shoes. The other says, “Are you crazy? You’ll […]

Enviros worldwide call for release of two Mexican activists

Forty-five of the world’s most prominent environmentalists have called for the immediate release of Mexican colleagues Rodolfo Montiel Flores and Teodoro Cabrera Garcia, who have been jailed and tortured after blocking logging operations by the multinational Boise Cascade in the southern state of Guerrero. Rodolfo Montiel Flores. Urging that the “tragic stories” of murdered environmental […]

How we could save both forests and jobs

The “roadless” road show swept the nation last week as U.S. Forest Service officials collected public comment on President Clinton’s initiative to prohibit road building in national forests where no roads now exist. What’s missing from this picture? Photo: U.S. Forest Service. The policy would affect 43 million acres across the country, including about 5.8 […]

On With the No-Show

Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) may have said it best at a rally Sunday afternoon in the postcard-perfect New Hampshire town of Peterborough. Asked what he planned to do to improve the environment, McCain mused briefly about convening a panel of scientists to figure out once and for all whether global warming exists, and then […]

The Deep Six

Months ago, the United Nations decided to make an event out of the fact that the human population meter would soon click over another billion. They picked an arbitrary date — October 12 — and declared it the Day of 6 Billion. What kind of event should this be? A day of repentance? A celebration? […]

A review of 'From the Redwood Forest' and 'Forest Blood'

The recent high-profile deal to keep chainsaws out of the Headwaters grove of ancient redwood trees near Eureka, Calif., is unlikely to bring about a truce in the raging war over old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest and northern California. Environmentalists continue to dig in their heels and repudiate all compromise (more than 90 percent of U.S. old-growth has already been lost, they say; no more can be sacrificed). Meanwhile, the timber industry flexes its mighty political muscle and logs on.

Log On

The Personal Environmental Ethics of a Real Stud

Chris Johnson is walking through the spruce-fir forest in Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre National Forest in western Colorado. Whip-thin and blond as a teenager, the 46-year-old wields his chainsaw as if it were a feather duster, touching it to the limbs that are in his way. They fall behind him. Photo: Lisa Jones. He’s cutting a trail. […]