#1 Save a Rainforest
As a wooden boatbuilder, I have a special interest in forests and the wonderful products that come from them. Everyone has heard about the treasures harbored in tropical rain forests, their destruction, and the dangers that poses. One third of the planet’s rain forests have already been cleared, and another third is severely damaged. It’s a fact — our climate problems cannot be addressed without reversing the current trajectory of our planet’s forests.
Surprisingly, cutting trees for lumber is one of the smaller and more easily addressed dangers to rain forests. Systems for managing forests for sustainable timber harvests are well established. People will always want beautiful wooden objects in their lives. At present, agriculture poses the major threat to rainforests as huge areas are cleared for raising cattle or growing soybeans or palm oil. Large areas are also cut for paper pulp and charcoal.
SIMPLE THINGS THAT WILL HELP:
* Eat a bit less beef. In addition to the devastation to rain forests from clearing pasture land, cattle produce large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane that go directly into the atmosphere. Red meat consumption also has health risks, so eating less is a simple way to address three big issues!
* Stay away from junk food, or at least read the label! Most palm oil is used in manufactured convenience foods. It’s bad for you anyway, so you get two benefits for the price of one!
* Use less paper. Much paper production today goes into shipping cartons. Try to get your Amazon shipments clumped into one day a week — saves paper and reduces emissions related to delivery, another twofer. Sign up for e-delivery of forms from banks, investments, and bills
* If your feeling pugilistic, send an email David MacLennan, CEO of the agribusiness giant Cargill. Ask him to stop his company’s destructive rainforest policies. david_maclennan@cargill.com
* Send some money to a conservation organization like Rainforest Trust. Even a tiny monthly contribution will help. If we are going to ask other people to save their forests, we need to make sure they have alternate ways to make a living besides clearing land for agricultural purposes. Whichever organization you might support (there are several good ones), make sure they support indigenous populations.
There are many other avenues to approach this problem — I’m trying to keep it simple here. If you want to dig deeper, and excellent place to look is REGENERATION at
https://regeneration.org/
. Before you contribute to any organization, you might want to check them out on Charity Navigator to make sure you money will be well used.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/
Thanks for reading,
Doug Hylan, Brooklin, Maine
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
― Jane Goodall