International Women’s Day takes on even greater meaning in the middle of a global pandemic. The impact of gender bias and inequality has only grown as women have shouldered increasing burdens during these challenging times.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season. I wanted to start the year with some lessons from 2020 that can inform our work going forward. I am proud of what we achieved together last year during such unique times and appreciative of how we adapted.

More than 330 virtual attendees from across the U.S. and Canada joined the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s E-Summit, Growing Solutions, to share ideas about how sustainably managed forests, and products sourced from those forests, are great tools to achieve shared sustainability goals.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A bird watcher, a lumber manufacturer, and a wildlife biologist walk into a bar…Or was it a forest? Wherever you find the American Bird Conservancy’s (ABC) Emily Jo Williams, Westervelt’s Jonathan Lowery, and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement Inc.’s (NCASI) Darren Miller together, you can be sure there will be plenty of laughs and no shortage of conservation inspiration.

Not long ago, I was in northwestern Ontario sailing high above the blanket of boreal forests stretching as far as the eye could see. I brought my two boys, aged 16 and 14, to see this place with me, to feel the forest and its people. We were on our way to Birch Lake, a remote location northeast of Ear Falls, accessible only by foot, snowmobile in the winter, or floatplane in the summer.

SFI’s standards, when leveraged with our three other pillars of work – conservation, community and education - provide practical, scalable solutions for markets and communities committed to a sustainable planet. Through the SFI Standards, more forests are well managed, which means more effort is put into conserving healthy wildlife, providing clean water and making more sustainable wood, paper and packaging products available for consumers and companies.

SFI has a proud history of forest-focused collaboration with Indigenous Peoples. Every day, we strive to co-create meaningful change, while also listening, learning, and growing as an organization to become the best possible partner we can be.

Millennials are changing the way we look at the world in many ways—including how we package the food and beverages we eat and drink every day. The EcoFocus Worldwide 2019 U.S. Trends Survey shows millennials place a much higher value on sustainability than previous generations and packaging is no exception.

SFI works to support the conservation of species at risk today and every day. SFI‑certified forests provide healthy habitat for a wide variety of species, including species at risk. So we’re pleased to celebrate Endangered Species Day! Check out this species at risk video featuring SFI’s Dr. Darren Sleep.

Even as the challenges of climate change continue to dominate the news, a set of technological revolutions in design and materials science offers renewed hope. While the transportation sector is a major source of carbon emissions, tackling climate change also means re-examining how buildings are designed, built and operated. That’s because the construction industry produces roughly 40 percent of global carbon emissions – more than even the transportation sector.

The Clemson Cooperative Extension is collaborating with other agencies, organizations, and female owned natural resource management companies to host workshops to provide information to South Carolina’s women forest landowners.

One of the best parts of my work at the Sustainable Forestry Initiative is the opportunity I have to collaborate with researchers, academics and other conservation leaders throughout Canada and the United States. I see first-hand the fascinating and innovative ways they are working together to tackle conservation challenges. Increasingly, people are using forest certification to take conservation in exciting new directions.

An important aspect of our company philosophy is the recognition that we’re not separate from our environment: we’re part of the environment. Plants, humans, non-human animals, rivers, lakes, and forests sustain each other. And we all share this, our home planet, together. As a company, we strive to do our best to demonstrate our respect for the environment and we seek out suppliers who feel the same way. 

Did you know that kids in the United States and Canada spend more time inside than any previous generation? While the long-term effects of North American children’s “nature-deficit disorder” is still being researched, we know that time outdoors leads to healthier physical and mental development.

2019 has been a great year, thanks to all of you for supporting SFI and committing to a sustainable future.