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Trees are a precious resource. Some 80 percent of our nation's freshwater resources originate from forests. This water supports 5,000 species of fish and wildlife and more than 10,000 plant species. And, 70% of the world's animals and plants are found in forests. Around the country 900 cities get their water from our national forests for fresh drinking water serving 124 million people. Healthy forests are an essential resource.
For a long time we have been cutting down trees without replenishing them. The legacy is we extract and consume, often depleting the land. As a result, resources are lost: The land erodes and species become extinct.
Although forests still cover 30% of the world's land area, large sections are lost each year. At the current rate, the world's rain forests could be gone in 100 years. And trees and moist soils drive the world's water cycles by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. Without a protective canopy, the forests dry out. Without forests, more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere.
In the U.S., housing is a primary source of tree consumption. Codified building practices around wood construction only reinforce the reality that we are relying on a single resource for most of our shelter and survival needs. Since this resource requires transportation, it adds to our resource vulnerability.
The frenetic pace of forest destruction worldwide is also taking a toll on the environment. The problem is two-fold. First, each tree consumed emits carbon into the atmosphere. Second, each tree lost represents one less way to take carbon out of the atmosphere and replenish CO2.
Excess carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere contributes to increasing temperatures which further fuels the cycle. So it is with the loss of biodiversity. As habitat shrinks, plant, animal, bird, and insect populations decline representing the loss of literally millions of species.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
Market systems exist where timber is undervalued and easily consumed. No economic value is attached to carbon release or forest biodiversity. An overriding imperative to achieve maximum profits drives consumption choices. This market system is oblivious to ecological consequence.
Can we continue to consume natural resources at an unrestrained pace? As long as the cost of lumber is kept artificially low by hiding the environmental costs, overconsumption will continue. It takes decades and even up to a century for many trees to mature, but it takes only a few hours to cut them down.
We apply the same value and corporate economic rationales to virtually every commodity in the marketplace, building material, food, and energy. Profit as a single motivator values production and selling it cheaply to make money and profit. What happens to the earth as a consequence is ignored. Environmental thinking requires that we add human values as relevant to the equation in production and consumption.
Take a drive up to the Eisenhower Tunnel. You will find a pristine example of a forest in a state if decay. The culprit is the Pine Beetle. The lifeless region it leaves behind is a legacy of a damaged climate and poor management.
Why is it that we do not see the benefits of using natural resources sustainably? Do we just assume that there is a never-ending supply of timber and that nothing can replace it? When you drive east on I-70 from Grand Junction, think about all the dead standing timber that could be put to use. Why don't we change our attitudes, clear beetle-kill forests and restore this environment?
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Jeff Evans is a sales consultant for Simplicity Solar in Grand Junction. He writes on renewable energy and sustainable living issues and can be reached at jeff.ecolife@gmail.com.
For a long time we have been cutting down trees without replenishing them. The legacy is we extract and consume, often depleting the land. As a result, resources are lost: The land erodes and species become extinct.
Although forests still cover 30% of the world's land area, large sections are lost each year. At the current rate, the world's rain forests could be gone in 100 years. And trees and moist soils drive the world's water cycles by returning water vapor to the atmosphere. Without a protective canopy, the forests dry out. Without forests, more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere.
In the U.S., housing is a primary source of tree consumption. Codified building practices around wood construction only reinforce the reality that we are relying on a single resource for most of our shelter and survival needs. Since this resource requires transportation, it adds to our resource vulnerability.
The frenetic pace of forest destruction worldwide is also taking a toll on the environment. The problem is two-fold. First, each tree consumed emits carbon into the atmosphere. Second, each tree lost represents one less way to take carbon out of the atmosphere and replenish CO2.
Excess carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere contributes to increasing temperatures which further fuels the cycle. So it is with the loss of biodiversity. As habitat shrinks, plant, animal, bird, and insect populations decline representing the loss of literally millions of species.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?
Market systems exist where timber is undervalued and easily consumed. No economic value is attached to carbon release or forest biodiversity. An overriding imperative to achieve maximum profits drives consumption choices. This market system is oblivious to ecological consequence.
Can we continue to consume natural resources at an unrestrained pace? As long as the cost of lumber is kept artificially low by hiding the environmental costs, overconsumption will continue. It takes decades and even up to a century for many trees to mature, but it takes only a few hours to cut them down.
We apply the same value and corporate economic rationales to virtually every commodity in the marketplace, building material, food, and energy. Profit as a single motivator values production and selling it cheaply to make money and profit. What happens to the earth as a consequence is ignored. Environmental thinking requires that we add human values as relevant to the equation in production and consumption.
Take a drive up to the Eisenhower Tunnel. You will find a pristine example of a forest in a state if decay. The culprit is the Pine Beetle. The lifeless region it leaves behind is a legacy of a damaged climate and poor management.
Why is it that we do not see the benefits of using natural resources sustainably? Do we just assume that there is a never-ending supply of timber and that nothing can replace it? When you drive east on I-70 from Grand Junction, think about all the dead standing timber that could be put to use. Why don't we change our attitudes, clear beetle-kill forests and restore this environment?
------------------------------
Jeff Evans is a sales consultant for Simplicity Solar in Grand Junction. He writes on renewable energy and sustainable living issues and can be reached at jeff.ecolife@gmail.com.
