Listed below are current forestry and environmental issues which we are tracking.
The worlds forests offer a tremendous opportunity for humankind to avoid undesirable climate change. Whether or not you believe in the validity of climate change, it is important and valuable to understand how forests can positively impact the Carbon cycle.
Here's how we see the issue at Rajala Forestry
The Quantitative side of the issue
- CO2 and other GHG’s are necessary to provide the thermal blanket that we need for survival.
- CO2 and other GHG’s need to be maintained in a balanced flow in order for the earth to remain in our optimal temperature range.
- Sources of CO2 to the atmosphere are: fossil fuel combustion (5.5 parts) and land use changes (1 part).
- Consumers of CO2 from the atmosphere are: Oceans (2 parts) and terrestrial ecosystems – including forests (1 part).
This means that at present there is a net source of carbon to the atmosphere of 3.5 parts vs. a total volume of 750 parts. According to this model the system is out of balance and Carbon concentrations are growing.
Forests store carbon for relatively long periods of time in the following 3 places:
- Trunks, limbs, roots
- Detritus (decaying plant matter)
- Organic component of the soil
When disturbed naturally or by man-made forces, carbon is released from the forest through combustion or decay.
If the Land is not converted to non-forest use, and forest health and productivity are maintained, carbon is recaptured from the atmosphere through the resulting growth of the forest. This is why good active forest management is considered essentially carbon neutral.
BUT, there is another factor that can make forests better than carbon neutral. If the resulting products that are manufactured from the harvested forest store their carbon for a long period of time, that is a significant and permanent reduction of carbon in the atmosphere.
The Qualitative side of the issue looks like this (this is where things get encouraging):
Carbon neutrality should also be framed within the more personal issues of sustainable living, quality of life, and personal economic sustainability.
Global and personal economic models should transition away from a dependence on growing volumes of artificially inexpensive consumable products (other than nutritional needs) as a source of global economic growth and personal happiness/satisfaction.
Individuals should increasingly make smarter “investment” choices in the form of durable, high quality, and satisfying products.
Producers and service providers who fit this model will prosper.
Bottom Line: In this model of future personal and global sustainability, there is no better source of products than wood from sustainably managed, permanent forests.