http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/science/earth/12timber.html?ref=business
Certification, in its true form, provides consumers with a certain assurance that products were harvested in a sustainable matter. The FSC has credibility exactly because of the rigorous requirements for certification and follow-up audits. It is very dangerous to both certification as a conservation tool and insurance to the consumer that the product met a high level of standards. Caveat emptor!
Environmental News & Discussion
September 12, 2009 by Jordan Erdos
Environmental Groups Spar Over Certifications of Wood and Paper Products
June 2, 2009 by Jordan Erdos
Climate Change on the Move
A few years ago, I was fortunate to catch Sebastião Salgado’s exhibition Migrations, a photodocumentary survey of human population movement. Many of the photos showed strong but desperate people far from home and clueless to what the future might hold for them. Salgado captured the indominable human spirit, but also the pathos of the journey migrants face when they leave — most likely are forced to leave — their native lands.In addition to the difficulty migrants face when they are uprooted from their homes, there is the added complication of the effect of thousands of people settling in a new country or region. Already pressed for resources, areas receiving the migrants are hard-pressed to find solutions to the sudden increase in population. Once sustainable economic models may rapidly be found to be untenable with the changing circumstances.The International Organization for Migration, a Swiss intergovernmental organization established in 1951, has just released a policy brief Migration, Climate Change and the Environment, which documents the effect migration is having and is expected to have on the environment. The report states that global climate change is having a clear effect on migration as vital resources diminish and human populations are forced to seek them elsewhere. A widely-cited study indicates up to 200 million people could be on the move due to environmental factors by 2050.What will be the result of all of this movement? Will resource-rich areas be able to absorb the migrating populations with minimal difficulty or will the sudden inflow of environmental refugees overwhelm the resource-rich areas, leading to a potential prolonged struggle for access to those resources by heterogeneous populations?We must transform how people think about the environment and environmentalism. We are no longer looking solely at questions of local conservation, endangered species, or human health. Global climate change is altering the very foundations of human societies and resource management. It is imperative we continue to address the human-related causes of global climate change and raise awareness of its drastic effects upon the whole of humanity.
April 8, 2009 by Jordan Erdos
Justice in Brazil
In 2005, Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun, was killed after she fought to preserve a piece of jungle that ranchers wanted to clear for logging and cattle ranching. Sister Dorothy was not the first forest activist to be murdered by hired hands serving the rich cattle ranchers’ interests. But, finally, for the first time in history, Brazil has actively pursued justice in this case. Although the suspected ranchers were initially acquitted, evidence that surged after the trial has led Brazil to re-open the case. See this story.This is an important step forward for Brazil. For far too long, the culture and atmosphere that resulted in Sister Dorothy’s murder has allowed the culprits to perform their actions with impunity.With this latest development, Brazil is sending a strong message to the powerful Amazon cattle ranchers that there are consequences to their illegal actions and brutal intimidation.
