Land conditions impact water and ocean quality. One of the
richest terrestrial ecosystems in the World exists in New
Caledonia, side by side and entwined with some of the richest
coral reefs on the Planet. As are their ecological processes,
their fates are deeply entwined. Following is an alert to have
this cauldron of biological life declared a World Heritage Site.

Land and its misuse is also a primary component of climate
change, which feeds back and further degrades land, water and
oceans. Such insights lead us into macro-ecological and global
change science - a perspective from which the interplays of large
scale ecosystem types and their flows of nutrients and energy,
emerges a whole new phenomena - the global ecological system.

The elusive concept of sustainability's most meaningful aspects
are found at such spatially extensive scales. Unless we address
energy policy, over-fishing, water scarcity, forest conservation
and climate change all at once - and in an interdisciplinary way
that goes right to the heart of diagnosing the failings of human
civilization in terms of ecology, equity, justice and
sustainability - all will be lost. But the battles for global
ecological sustainability, equity and justice have only just
commenced. We shall overcome greed, ignorance and evil in order
to fashion a new World of plants and humankind in harmony.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (0)

After years of being the target of aggressive forest conservation
campaigns, the paper and building material company Boise has
announced an end to the cutting and sale of old-growth forest
products. They have pledged to stop using timber from American
old-growth by 2004, to not purchase timber from "endangered
forests" elsewhere, and to drop their support of lawsuits seeking
to overturn protections for America's last roadless forest
expanses.

This is a magnificent victory for the forest conservation
movement - and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) in particular.
Forests.org played a supporting role with thousands of others
through constant tracking and networking of information, repeated
action alerts, protests and other campaign activities. RAN is now
targeting the "dirty dozen", other companies engaged in ecologically
criminal logging practices.

The message is clear - companies will either get out of the business
of using old-growth or go out of business altogether. As a RAN
spokesperson stated: "Logging, distributing or selling endangered
forests is a barbaric, outdated practice that has entered its
endgame in the American marketplace... Any company that is still
engaged in this practice is on the wrong side of history," he said.

Logging of ancient primary and old-growth forests is a crime
against the Earth and humanity. With 80% of the world's forests
already lost or heavily fragmented and diminished, global
ecological sustainability depends urgently upon ending logging in
primary forests - a closing of the old-growth forest frontier -
embarkation upon the era of forest and ecological restoration,
and careful conservation management of regenerating natural
forests.

Always the skeptical pundit, I am concerned otherwise successful
consumer campaigns have not adequately addressed the issue of
"certified" logging in the World's remaining large, primary
forests. It must be made crystal clear - industrial scale
logging of primary forests can never be environmentally
acceptable or sustainable. Today must mark the beginning of the
end - the days of commercial scaled old-growth logging are over.

Regardless, my greatest admiration goes out to RAN, American
Lands Alliance and the National Forest Protection Alliance, who
spearheaded this campaign. And to YOU, that had no small part in
this forest conservation victory yourself - as you sent tens of
thousands of protest letters in support of old-growth forests
through Forests.org. My hat is off to you all... Good Job!

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (0)

Most forests burn periodically and from the ashes come new, baby
forests. In forests that have become adapted to fires, the
absence of fire for some period frequently means subsequent fires
are more severe. Thus it has been for millennia.

Forest fires are natural phenomena - you can not have one without
the other - and after even the most severe fires, forests are
renewed (remember Yellowstone?). While we have become aware that
suppression of forest fires was not a good idea, historically
there have certainly been periods of a century or longer where
climatic conditions had the same impact. And when the climate
heated up and dried out again, the forests burned more intensely.
Thus it has been for millennia.

Emperor Bush and his court assert that only heavy commercial
logging of fire-prone forests can stop them from burning. The
now in vogue concept of logging forests to save them is yet
another mistake that will lead to even more frequent and
catastrophic forest fires. The resulting road construction,
piles of logging debris, loss of large old trees - to say nothing
of climate change - is certain to further exacerbate the problem.

Each of the areas that have burned recently in the United States
will, as Yellowstone did, recover if left to their own devices.
If they are logged for salvage, their soil is disrupted by
logging machinery, and/or roads bring grasses and exotic plants -
they very well may not recover and will be more likely to burn
unnaturally. Human beings are part of nature, and need large
natural and relatively intact ecosystems to survive. This
requires allowing for forest renewal. Thus it has been for
millennia.

Forest policy must move beyond the pathology of command and
control solutions under the false notion that humans are above
nature. The time to: 1) end logging of old-growth and primary
forests in America and worldwide, 2) control housing sprawl in
natural forests susceptible to fires, and 3) let fires burn that
do not threaten communities while carrying out prescribed burns
and forest thinning near settlements; are all long past due.

Once again an emperor has no clothes and a proclivity for lying.
Thus it has been for millennia.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (0)