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Since the 1970's humanity has demanded more of our biosphere than it can replenish. The current crises of climate and biodiversity are an effect of this global overshoot. We need to let lands and waters recover: restore and rewild, expand, connect, and then permanently protect them. Forest ecosystems are key to biogeochemical cycling, sustain biodiversity, and regulate the climate and the water cycle. They need to be prioritized within protections. Yet, the industry and our government are prioritizing profit.
Please click on the buttons below to learn more about each topic.
Burning wood pollutes as much as coal (it's the same stuff!) However, technocrats and lobbyists have classified it as 'clean and renewable' and are working to convince your elected officials of the same. The woody biomass for energy industry is subsidized and incentivized by our governments, and indirectly by tax-payers who want to see their forests preserved, not clear-cut for pellets.
Mesophication refers to the capacity of Eastern Forests to self-perpetuate through a positive feedback loop based on rich seedbeds, moist and fertile soils from decomposing duff, and shade tolerance. Eastern forests are becoming increasingly metophytic as they adapt to a warmer and more humid climate . Today, forest Managers are implementing large projects including harvesting, herbicide applications, and fire in order to maintaining a more xeric forest composition.
The older the forest, the more integral the ecosystem, the better the carbon absorption and retention. Moreover, forests also regulate the water cycle which drives the climate and host 80% of life on earth which is vital to biogeochemical cycling and keeping Earth systems processes functioning. We need to let forests recover.
Tree shelters increase seedling survival by up to 40% and are key as we plant 1 Trillion Trees globally. Unfortunately, often tree shelters are abandoned in plantings, leaving them to strangle a young tree or to decompose into microplastics.
A Global Design Challenge would generate awareness and solve the problem of producing viable, affordable, and fully compostable tree shelter options for all afforestation projects across the globe. Please click on the button to see how we envision such a challenge.
Most States are eagerly putting forests into 'conservation.' However, this often only means that the land, currently forested, will not be paved over. These forests become 'working forests' and are actively managed, i.e. logged. The science is clear: to maintain a livable biosphere, we need to permanently protect forest ecosystems' (see also 30 x 30).
The Climate Communications Coalition is a proud member of Heartwood and supports its partners through information sharing, presentations, and workshops.
Click on the button to see what presentations and workshops were held in person at the last Annual Forest Council meetings.
The Wood Vault is hailed by some as a solution to climate change: let trees scrub our air clean, then cut them down and bury any wood not needed deep underground or in a mound to sequester the CO2. However, this approach generates perverse incentives for unnecessary logging in the carbon trade market and it removes trees that are actively working to draw down pollution and provide valuable habitat. Importantly, it ignores emissions from logging, soil-C loss, Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi die off, transportation, sorting, digging or building the vault, etc. It makes more sense to leave the trees in the forest to draw down CO2 and sequester it in the soils than to log them generating a lot of new emissions. Please click on the button to learn more!
As industry does, the Forest Product and Woody Biomass for Energy Industries are continuously seeking expansion. However, during this climate emergency, it is key to let our trees grow old to generate self-balancing forest ecosystems. Forests have been kept artificially young for centuries through intensive logging and there is particularly high untapped potential for forests to accumulate more carbon over time if we simply allow them to continue to grow. Our elected officials need to make the right decision and protect our forests for our future. The MFEAS is a good example on how industry is high-jacking the narrative. This PowerPoint presentation gives some insights on what to look for.
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