Below you’ll see images of yesterday’s sunset, as viewed from within a polite crowd of mostly spruce and balsam fir trees. The images were inspired by an article in yesterday’s Boston Globe on an important new report relating to New England’s forests, which are sponging-up tens of millions of tons of carbon-based greenhouse gas pollutants annually. The report urges policy makers to increase the trees’ protective roles by taking certain dramatic actions.
Titled “New England’s Climate Imperative: Our Forests as a Natural Solution,” the important report was produced by Harvard Forest, the University’s 4000-acre laboratory-classroom, and two environmental groups. It details the carbon benefits of five complementary pathways that, taken together, “can greatly enhance the forests’ contributions to mitigating climate change.” These five pathways are:
· Avoided Deforestation: Change developmental practices to reduce annual rates of deforestation by 75 percent.
· Wildland Reserves: Designate at least 10 percent of existing forests as forever wild.
· Improved Forest Management: Apply better management to 50 percent of timberlands.
· Mass Timber Construction: Replace concrete and steel with wood in 50 percent of eligible new institutional buildings and multifamily homes.
Urban and Suburban Forests: Increase tree canopy and forest cover by at least 5 percent in urban and suburban areas.
To read the Harvard release on the report, click this: https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/news/report-informs-policy-making-process-detailing-how-forests-contribute-climate-change-mitigation
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on November 8, 2022.)