The forest and wood products industries have been the target of such groups for many years and it can be disheartening to hear their message repeatedly. Ten years ago I was in such a state of mind when I went to a Forest Products Society meeting in Lake Tahoe and heard the keynote speaker, Dr. Patrick Moore. Going to listen I was skeptical. Moore had been a co-founder of Greenpeace, so I really questioned why he was giving the keynote address. It turns out I was wrong and Dr. Moore had a very positive message which he titles “Trees are the Answer” and provides a very reasoned argument for the utilization of wood from the forest. (Dr. Moore left Greenpeace in the mid-1980’s). I provide a summary of some of Moore’s arguments here in hopes that they will help you speak about the virtues of forest management and wood utilization:
Clearcutting. “Environmental” groups want you to believe that the ugly appearance of a recently harvested forest is the same as the permanent destruction of the forest environment. In reality, the clearcut is totally organic and will soon grow to again be a beautiful new forest. Too often we judge “good” or “bad” based on our perceptions of aesthetics. A meadow is beautiful and therefore judged “good” while a clearcut may be viewed as ugly and judged to be “bad”. Actually the meadow is a small desert capable of supporting only drought resistant grasses and non-woody plants, while within a year or two after harvesting the clearcut is likely to have a higher biodiversity than the meadow, and in a decade be considered a young forest.
Deforestation. Clearcutting is not deforestation. Deforestation occurs when the forest is removed permanently. Dr. Moore points out that deforestation is not an evil plot, it is what humans do to feed and house the 6.8 billion people on planet Earth. My conclusion is that deforestation has given us (and the EarthFirsters!) the beautiful farms that feed us, our neighborhoods where we live, and even shopping malls and acres of affiliated parking lots.
Species Extinction. In 1996 the World Wildlife Fund announced that 50,000 species are going extinct each year due to human activity, mostly due to logging. There are no examples as evidence, however, and no species have become extinct due to forestry. The reported 50,000 species disappearing annually was generated on a computer model developed at Harvard. Now, human activity actually does cause extinction of some species. In the real world, please note that species extinction is primarily due to the introduction of exotic predators and diseases. Additional causes of species extinction are that humans have wiped them out for food or because they were pests, and the clearance of forests for agriculture. So, although we do not know of a single species that has become extinct due to the practice of forestry, the general public has been given the impression through many “mainstream” media outlets that forestry is a major cause of species extinction, although there is no evidence to support that allegation.
Biodiversity. A few years ago the “environmental” community was focused on the clearcut which represented the loss of habitat, the resulting decrease in biodiversity with the implication that it would be that way forever. Of course many of us know that that is not the case. Consider biodiversity on a scale of 0 to 100. From Moore: “You would have to admit that the parking lot is pretty close to 0. There might be a blade of grass poking through in the odd place. A farm field or pasture might rate 5 or 10, compared to the original forest that was cut down, burned and planted to make the farm. Forestry, the way it is practiced today throughout most of North America, is 96, 98, 100, even 102, because in some landscapes forest management results in a wider range of age classes and ecosystem types than would normally occur in the absence of human activity.”
Dr. Moore’s major point is that we need to educate the public so that they do not equate health of the environment with landscape aesthetics. They must get beyond the immediate visual impression of the landscape and understand more about science, ecology, and biodiversity before making judgments about the ecology. You can link to the complete text of Dr. Moore’s Trees are the Answer presentation: http://web.archive.org/web/20051119060817/www.greenspirit.com/trees_answer.cfm
Just as the public needs to be educated about forestry so we can continue to harvest logs, we also need to educate the American consumer about the importance and benefits of purchasing wood products grown and manufactured domestically. We really do have a great story to tell about wood products. Wood is the only sustainable material used to build “stuff”. It is converted solar energy. We grow it locally. We use it to build products locally. We need these products locally. In an era when manufacturing is not viewed favorably by some and much of it has moved offshore, when most of our goods seem to be made elsewhere, we may be approaching a time when our logs are shipped offshore rather than taken to the local sawmill (as was done in many third countries before they outlawed it). Preliminary research here at NC State suggests that environmentally friendly, locally sourced, and customized products, rank as low priority characteristics for consumers considering furniture purchases. This represents an opportunity for us to educate the public about the virtues of American made products built using domestically grown wood.
This education effort must be more than a bumper sticker campaign. Do you remember the “Forests are America’s Renewable Resource” from the 1970’s? If that had been an over-the-top success back then we might not need to deliver such a positive and energetic message designed to educate today’s consumers. We all (wood manufacturers, woodworkers, sales and marketing, and especially educators) need to proactively market American wood products with what might be called “The Woodworkers’ Tenets”:
- Our domestic woods are sustainable, renewable, and natural.
- Domestic wood products are environmentally manufactured, requiring less energy to make and transport than alternative materials, and function as a warehouse to store carbon and mitigate global warming.
- American manufacturers offer quality wood products manufactured locally from locally sourced woods.
- Wood is workable, versatile, customizable, durable, abundant and affordable.
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Excerpted from North Carolina’s Value Added Wood Products Newsletter
North Carolina State University
June 10, 2010
Wood Products Extension
Campus Box 8003
Raleigh, NC 27695
Phone (919) 515-5581
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