If anyone reading this has been fortunate enough to experience the wonder of a mature bottomland hardwood swamp, then place yourself in a category with few other people. Bottomland hardwoods in the Southern United States have been reduced to a small portion of what they once were for reasons anywhere from disease prevention to pine plantation development.
I attended the Innovation Forum’s Washington, DC conference on “How businesses can tackle deforestation.” In the midst of all the great discussions, I noticed the deforestation associated with industrial forestry in the Southern US, our own backyard, didn’t get the air time it deserves.
Last week, Andrew presented at the GreenBlue Value Innovation Work Session on Forest Certification. The event focused on the changing needs in the certified forest products industry and identified the most valuable elements of forest certification while elevating strategies to deliver that value to forest products companies and large customers.
Last week’s editorial “The EPA’s not-so-green emissions plan” in the Washington Post rightfully asserted that a wholesale switch from coal to wood as a fuel source for generating electricity would take us in the wrong direction on climate change. It would increase carbon emissions at the smokestack, while also degrading forests’ ability to remove and store carbon from the atmosphere. But the note at the end…
So the more things change here at Dogwood, the more things stay the same. We are continuing our campaign, our mission, our heart’s work, to protect Southern forests by transforming the pulp and paper industry. With your support over the years, we have found new and better ways to achieve our shared objectives.
