Voting For Real Change – and the Enviro!

Resisting the temptation to post – yet again – about financial shenanigans, let us comment briefly on the Environmental importance of the upcoming Canadian election.

Truly, the level of voter apathy may turn out to be stunning this year. Prime Minister Stephen Harper (and correct me if I’m wrong) has called a mid-term election in an attempt to win an overwhelming government election. This would be disastrous, and here’s why:

ONE: The Oil Industry is in his backyard – and is the heart of his voter group. He may quite literally be the driver of both the oil boom (new-boom circa 2004), as well as the housing overconfidence in Alberta – which by the way will make a sweet crack once it all comes tumbling down on exaggerated values. Here’s the problem – all the environmental damage that is being done now at an increasing rate because of our oil sands extraction (see: tailings up the wazoo) will be in vain as the industry is in the process of crumbling. I have read, and sorry, I am my own source, that our oil sands are only producing profitably at over $101/barrel oil. Watchout: we are approaching $50-60 oil according to some technical analysts. And, even if we don’t reach $50/barrel oil, the oil-sands projects could spend many a year trying to work towards profitability.

**On that note, when buying Canadian mutual equity you’re basically buying into oil/energy. Pffft! And my “advisor” keeps pushing me to buy-and-hold…can you say generational divergence? Mutual funds are out for me. Screw you all, bankers!!

TWO: To assist the struggling forest industry, Canada’s other economic heart, we need leadership that will, 1) recognize the ecological importance of protecting old-growth and original forest, and 2) assist the sector in both marketing and innovation for the use of second-growth timber. Forestry is a top employer in Canada and there’s no way the industry can be forcibly scaled down (free-markets take care of that) – our jobs need to be protected, and at the same time innovation and protection needs to keep jobs in Canada. For example; our top problem is the export (to U.S. and beyond) of raw logs. That leaves too many processes and jobs out of Canadian hands. In an upcoming recession – jobs need to be forcibly kept on Canuck soil.

In summary: Harper will continue to convince us that the Oil industry is Canada’s heart, but the truth is it must be scaled down before more irreversible damage is done. Stop damaging investing that will destroy our land and pocketbooks.

…and: if we don’t vote change into the Canadian federal system (VOTE GREEN!) – not enough is going to change. Liberal and Conservative agendas may speak for change, and show enough difference to convince us of a multi-party system…but what has the last 10 years given us besides the same thing, over and over again??

The same goes to American votes – vote real change!!!

A Job In This Sector Is Still About The Human Element

I highly recommend a career the environmental/ forest sector. If you think there’s no money or excitement in it you’d be dead wrong – if you’re good with people and have a strong business sense, you can literally consult in any direction.

Kissinger Lake - and cutblock on distant hill

As I looked out over Lake Kissinger – camping recently – I again realized how lucky I am to work in a sector (and region) that allows me to look around and see my job in everything. And I don’t mean that in a “prisoner of work” sense. I live in an area where I can drive twenty minutes from the city and be in the boonies, so why would I want to fetch a career in anything but the environmental sector? The more I travel, the more I see that I live and work in the environmental sector: I can look beyond the lake and see opportunity for solutions.

To consider whether you’re happy working in (or pursuing) something, try to find your ‘place at work’ surrounding you. For example:

**Do you see billboards in Times Square and think, ” They’ve got that wrong, I know how I could sell that better.”

**Do you look up to Steve Jobs and think, “I could take over from here, let me in old man”.

**Do you look around and see an uncomfortable, traffic-ridden and poorly planned business district?

**And, (not an ad for medication) does unprecedented urban sprawl sadden you?

When your passion has direction, whether you’re right or wrong is not the point. Ask yourself; did you make your way into your career (or will you) because of a series of problems you thought you could solve? Those who seek problems will come out ahead of their competition.

Then, once you’ve started, it takes time and experience to know where you “should be headed” in the career sense – which is often as frustrating as needing experience to gain experience (that resume debacle). Sometimes you’ll need a series of mistakes before you find your happy place. And then it’s not always a happy place. So when you’re in a position, take time to consider when and whether you should dive deeper. You should probably dive deeper when:

1) You seek change and improvement in observing what others do.
2) You see challenges, and want to face those challenges; and
3) You see opportunity to stand out, and offer a personal touch to your niche.

Working in forestry consulting was the first place I tried and – luckily – is a place I’m happy exploring challenging niches. It all started when I worked at the base of the industry (silviculture/treeplanting) while pursuing a degree in Poli-Sci and English and would get frustrated (and curious) when I saw the dinosaur that (still) is the forest industry headed right down the drain. I saw opportunity in a downturn – and things had to get better. There’s everything to explore from development planning, land management, and sustainability in the energy sector. Within the larger field I see forest operations planning, and community and stakeholder consulting. It is packed with constant change and opportunity – all opening before me as I dive deeper into my ecological restoration niche. Basically, if there’s something missing or changing – there’s a need for consulting.

In the end, there’s no doubt that your surroundings define you. So if you seek to define (or defend!) your surroundings, environmental work just might be your calling. Then, you can define it.

**If you’re curious about the current environment and opportunities in this sector around your home base, contact me and I’ll do some basic research to help you find resources to help you on your way.

For The Love Of Balance

Being environmentally-friendly is often about the larger-picture balance, and reconsidering the things you take for granted. Maybe you see your ability to get around by car as a given freedom, even a fundamental right. Propose to yourself that perhaps you’re wrong – and that years of habitual culture and advertising have told you that. Perhaps environmentalism, for you, is about sacrifice.

How about trading in your car for a motorbike?

In my and their defence, when someone comes across as anti-car, chances are they’re simply anti-overkill.

This is overkill:

Hummer Overkill

This is not:

While I woulnd’t call motorcycles the “environmentalists choice”, it sure is a viable and efficient motorized way of getting around.

Generally, a ‘fuel-efficient’ car comes in at about 45 mpg at best (excluding hybrids). Motorcycles like this Yamaha average about 78 mpg. That means that if you’re riding it consciously you could probably do better. Like not accelerating up hills, for instance. A simple four-stroke (one cylinder) engine is all one needs to get around (for fair distances).

Some reasons you might not want to get a moto-bike is 1) safety, if that’s your concern, 2) bad weather discomfort, if that’s your concern, 4) inability to lug things around, and/or, 4) your girlfriend won’t let you (and wants to see you in a Hummer) – see above picture.

To conclude, motorcycles are neat (see also: “cool”), and don’t drag around extra weight. In my opinion that is the overkill factor; one person occupying a hollow metal machine, dragging ass around the city. Driving half a mile to the store for milk and beer isn’t overkill, but 30 million people doing the same thing is.

The Los Angeles River: Intro to a Case Study in Urban Revitalization

If there is one environmental movement that can gain near-unanimous support, it is the revitalization of visible, past human impact. Climate Change needs evidence beyond scientific fact in order to become a larger accepted issue – there is no doubt about that. But closer to home, something we at least recognize, are mistakes from past undertakings, which today, make sense to pull back in time in order to benefit the future.

This is an introduction to restoration and revitalization, which go beyond just making things ‘pretty’ again; they aim to restore the integrity of once functioning ecosystems.

Engineers look at the Los Angeles River and see an elegant work of design. It does what it was supposed to do beautifully: Keep flood water away from the city. But to many, it’s mostly an eyesore, and they want it to do more than just speed water out to sea. The City of Los Angeles is hoping to redesign some of the 32 miles of river channel that run through L.A. Over the next year, city engineers and consultants will be developing a master plan for the river. (source)

Creating more parks is the primary goal – for human use and enjoyment – and getting communities involved is integral to that goal. Second, is attempting to create functioning systems so that the area of impact can begin to live again, and even attract natural renewal and species diversification. It should come as no surprise that functioning ecosystems and biodiversity are very important to the health of a city. It was the water which flowed through the flood basin that gave the land its original appeal: fertile soils, functional systems and drinking water. But they were constantly meandering and variable steams. So when repeated floods in the 30’s killed as many as 50 people – between the 1950’s and 60’s the Federal Government deepened and reinforced the river with concrete to create the 32 miles of river as L.A. sees it today.

Unfortunately the vital (flood control) areas of the river may never see soil again, and I believe that they are instead choosing parts of the river closer to communities and existing parks to focus their efforts. I’ve read that up to 45 percent of communities (primarily Hispanic) near the River itself have no access, or are not within walking distance to parks of any kind. Many people generally have no way (and hence limited desire) to experience nature as we know it.

For me, this project represents a milestone in the area of restoration of natural systems. Restoration has seen some hard times, primarily due to lack of funding. I see this first hand in the forest industry where standards are designed to be met (and barely), and those rarely include restoration and revitalization of damaged ecosystems. But I now see a revitalization in the field of restoration – especially with increased funding of urban renewal – so seeing a city such as L.A. charge headfirst into such an endeavor is absolutely enlightening.

This massive project is more than just the revitalization of an old eyesore: it is an attempt to reintroduce the beauty of green space and riparian zones, something which many Angelenos are truly unaware of. I plan to follow and occasionally report on the undertaking as it progresses and evolves.

A Forest Story: From Carbon Sink to Carbon Stink

The following is a story about one of the most important forests and versatile resources that Canada has to offer to the world. More than just the forest, it is a story of a beetle the size of a grain of rice. This is a story about the mountain pine beetle (MPB), and how it is transforming our precious resource as (one of) the world’s largest carbon sinks, to the worlds largest carbon stinks.

• In the late 1800’s to early 20th Century, a series of fires swept their way across the western provinces and states (which is only natural), making way for vast pine forests that thrive in post-burn habitat.

• Also, before 1993 or so, the pine beetle was just another species coming and going amongst our resource. Fires would stop their spread, and temperatures below -30 C for weeks at a time would usually wipe them out. Today: fires are controlled for industrial and safety reasons (private and/or public land), and temperatures are not getting down to those killer numbers anymore. This is Global Warming causing itself as the beetle kills the pine…

• Scientists estimate that mountain pine beetles will wipe out 80 percent of B.C’s pine forests by 2013 – the only race now is to stop their expansion into Alberta, which has already begun. Today they have already killed billions of trees on their way to Alberta, and the current focus is community safety, beetle-kill salvage, and suppression of their move east.

• Researchers from the Canadian Forest Service report that by the time the current infestation ends, the rice-sized beetles will have killed enough trees so that an extra billion tonnes of carbon dioxide will be wafting through the atmosphere. Apparently, that is five times the annual emissions from all the cars, trucks, trains and planes in Canada.

The outbreak has been a disaster for B.C. and it is estimated more than 435 million cubic metres of timber has been lost. I have seen, worked and been within communities and parks which are now in the midst of dead forests that can stretch hundreds of kilometers. Also, due to increased – and often salvage – logging, there is more and more timber on the market to further drive down prices, and to further harm the industry.

The question now is, where we go from here, and what can you do to help?

• The move to biofuels is an important step. While controversial, expensive, and often speculative, creating energy from the beetle-kill salvage is already underway.
• Future investment within B.C, education of future resource managers, and use of pre-infestation management techniques such as controlled burning will help to reduce the impact of a future infestation.
• Users of any land and resources, that’s you, should know and be aware of its existence and impact on the land as well as market. Having read this, you can now use it as an example of mis-management, and understand the benefits of controlled management.

Importantly, all should know that the MPB may (and is beginning to) break out in California, Oregon and Washington. As of today, this is a B.C. and Alberta problem that will become a North American issue, especially concerning the released carbon and its future impact.

Three Baby Steps to Appreciating Land and Resource Use

It’s a big world, shit happens, and life goes on: just three reasons why people feel that resource use and the industry are out of reach. There’s such a massive disconnect between ourselves and where energy and wood is produced (for example) that it becomes very difficult to imagine having an effect on industry. But the truth is that our requests and complaints have a very small effect on their choices; it is about us as a market and the numbers they see in us. Believe me when I say that things only change when we need more, or we need less.

The other day I realized that we are making a mistake in using a name like “Mother Earth.” It implies that it cares for us, that it is nurturing. Our traditional approach with Earth and mothers is that they care for us, and when it gets old and fragile we care for it. I vote for the compassionate approach.

This is our Baby Earth, and these are some introductory baby steps to appreciating what it gives us.

**Appreciating Our Forests: There’s something to say for ‘seeing the forest for the trees’, but it’s hard to see them as anything but a resource when it comes down to it.

• People travel great distances to use them for recreation, this makes them a resource;
• They provide our cities and landscapes with stability. They provide cooling properties to our disturbed land (roads, buildings and pavement); and
• Alongside their products, they provide us with great need for discussion and citizen action. In fact, they bring people together for protest.

Here’s a bit I picked off the net to bring a factoid into this post: Starbucks uses up to two billion paper cups a year, of which 10 percent is recycled. That is not including the cardboard sleeves served with them, another two billion I would assume. Be weary of automatic consumption.

Overall, the best first step is becoming interested. I went ahead and decided that I have a favourite tree here in my city. You don’t have to be such a nerd, but it certainly helps to be appreciative.

**Appreciating Our Freshwater: Water brings to us what we need, takes from our homes what we don’t need, and flows through us day after day. Water is incredibly versatile, and more limited than we like to think.

Almost everything we do on land will have an effect on hydrology, one of nature’s most important systems. Land relies on water, water relies on land. Everything we do that affects its cycle should be taken into consideration.

**Appreciating Generations: Often, when aboriginal communities (and us that work with and for them) create anything that resembles a land use plan, they use what they call the Seven Generations Plan. Simply put, they are considering every move and its effect on the next seven generations that follow. Most importantly, ensuring that there will be resources to care for seven generations from now – pushing us to do our part in sustainability. As a community, and well versed at small-scale resource use, they are much better at ensuring sustainability.

The key to appreciating generational thinking is realizing that resource use and community are so interwoven that they cannot, and should not, be separated.

One of the hardest things to do is imagining what we will be leaving our children and grandchildren. We do – in a very general way – appreciate that what we affect carries on, but we are such an urban species that we feel individually inconsequential. Our effect on the land though, is entirely en masse.

Being aware of land use is easier as we are (after all) terrestrial creatures, but where water is concerned, we are used to its continual availability through taps and pumps. Try counting how many times you flush, shower, wash, rinse, drink and flush again. Think of the deterioration of a resource that needs to be available seven generations from now.

Think Baby Earth, and know its weak points.

Three Lies We Tell Ourselves About Our Environment

You wake up in the morning, roll around for a few minutes, turn off your alarm, and start thinking about breakfast. The first 25 minutes of your morning are a product of habit, a product you’re not about to give up on because it’s too easy to be complacent. Groggy-eyed and empty, you don’t think twice about starting up your car and sitting idle while meddling with your tunes for the ride.

I believe that if we make an honest attempt to fix the little things, break habits, and act responsibly – general populations may adopt a friendlier mindset. Small acts by individuals may seem relatively unharmful, but when North America – at roughly 340 million people – acts in near unison every day, we are no longer individuals.

Lie No. 1: I need my car each and every day. We are Creatures of Habit, and breaking any habit takes a new train of thought. The same way small changes over time may save the forests; one can’t choke a person until she admits that she doesn’t need a car to survive. Being the sole driver of a car each and every morning is completely unnecessary, and often selfish. I don’t even have to know about her problems, the size of the commute, or the horror of public transit. Only that sitting in your car is habitual and relatively destructive.

Without being particularly anti-car, I can say that yes, you consume fuel out of habit which you call necessity. Statistics have shown that while gas prices are getting ridiculous, they have yet to really reflect the cost that includes the cost to the environment – which eventually they will. A carbon tax will start to do that. What will it take for your car habits to finally seem ridiculous? Canadians now spend a good 30 percent of all consumer spending on things vehicle related – the more it costs, the more they spend. Old habits die hard.

Lie No. 2: Paperless is bullshit, and I can’t make a difference. We call our own shots, and believe what we think. While receiving some good advice about my blog from Penelope, she proceeded to announce that paperless is bullshit. I completely agree that paper-free is impossible, but it is by no means bullshit. She was probably alluding to what is called ‘Greenwashing‘; that it is a corporate trick to call something green to reap some other (image or monetary) benefits.

So, an internet (social media) entrepreneur gets to call paperless bullshit? Well, we tend to believe our opinion and then do what we can to back it up. As bloggers we do this. Global Warming naysayers: a prime example. There are two sides funding research about climate change, and each wishes to use it to their own end. Here’s my point: do what is healthy for future generations while the big money battles it out. Global Warming or not, make a point to conserve instead of calling conservation attempts bullshit. A move to paperless over time is absolutely foreseeable.

Lie No. 3: My City is Proactive. You may have seen my post on urban biodiversity, and how I rank urban ecosystems as one of the most important services a city has to offer. This is also true for cities or towns that promote sustainability and a conservation culture.

More recently it is being expressed that moving to a city of choice before a job of choice is good decision making. If you’re living in a city in which you haven’t been pushed to act positively due to public programs, you’re living behind the times. One example I see here in Victoria is Bike to Work Week – the traffic patterns are noticeably different, and the general attitude about it is positive (which is to be expected in a city of 250,000).

I predict that (and we’re seeing it already) the most attractive cities of tomorrow are the ones that are investing in change today. You should feel inclined to walk or bike, in fact you should be compensated. It starts with tax incentives for taking the bus, and continues with feeling the need to experience a natural looking city with nature and green space to offer.

As we manage our lives, we should be managing the environment around us, it’s called Stewardship and it shouldn’t be too difficult. We grew up disconnected from the land culturally; or if we didn’t, then why do we care so much for nice views yet struggle to keep our environment healthy?

Production Decrease: News

Canfor, one of Canada’s largest wood producers has announced a substantial decrease in annual production. The decrease is an approximate 11%, all within British Columbia is seems. Which (by the way) is not fantastic news for other BC offices of my current employer. No big deal…

Canfor said the move will reduce its annual lumber production by about 600 million board feet. The company’s annual lumber production capability is roughly 5.3 billion board feet.

The company said it sees no indications of a market recovery in the near future. (Source)

It begins, and again, only years after the market tells it to do so. It is only natural that such a large and diverse industry takes years to react, and I have argued before that the industry needs to be young again. This is a key change. One of the largest softwood producers cutting down their intended production is a message to other larger producers. This is streamlining.

I believe that the paper industry has taken its hit already with increasing digitization of information, but we can do better.

Forcing timber producers such as Canfor and Weyerhauser – for example – to reduce their annual cut is nearly impossible. Arguments from public review, citing everything from Climate Change to Old Growth protection have little to no effect: there are goals to be met.

Change in market is the only way. Guess what, you and I are the market. The little things do matter just as much as the North American housing market.

Paperless? Heck yes!

As far as the greening trend goes I believe that a paperless workplace could be the most important, followed closely by energy savings. Less paper use would furthermore require less fuels for paper delivery, as well as resources for harvest and operations.

One step in enviro-friendliness is improvements in people’s personal habits, and the other is improvements in the workplace. Here are some things that should be happening to help in greening (oh god, starting to hate the word already), and the impacts associated:

1. Top of the list, paperless. The benefits to the environment in limiting paper use are practically endless, from the production methods to the production amounts. If there’s one thing that can slow down harvesting it is a fall in the market for the products. It takes time, years in fact, for that production to react to the market but it does eventually happen.

Apparently, for every 100 pounds of trash we throw away, 35 pounds is paper. Newspapers still take up about 14 percent of landfill space. Energy-wise, it takes 40 percent less energy to produce paper from recycling than from the normal pulp to paper process. And, to wrap it all up: Forty-two percent of the world’s industrial wood harvest goes to paper. Clearly that is too much in such a digital world.

As an example of continuing trends: This year I produced (part of), printed, and mailed a document and analysis that cost us $425 in paper in one month. Mistakes were made, things changed and I will be doing the print and mail-out all over again. Still, we are not ready to move completely to email and online distribution. This begs the question: are we stuck in the 80’s? At least some clients are.

There should be nothing wrong with reading and working all documentation on-screen, with only the occasional printout when required. Though I do admit that editing is easier on paper…

2. Shutting down of computers. The habit at my office, and I’m afraid it is a tradition, is to just logout of our computer when we leave at the end of the day. Surely, some folks running programming need theirs running at all times, and then there’s the server room etc. But it is common practice for everyone to just have it all running all the time. I would bet that some of these computers have been running for a year straight, all because of a habit. I think some overhead costs could even be cut down if a slew of (non-paper) memos were to be sent out in a new effort to save some power where possible.

3. E-waste…is what Cara from my class called the garbage that computers, and electronics like cellphones create. One hundred and nineteen million cellphones to landfills worldwide, every year. Amazing. I have contributed one cellphone in my lifetime to that number, how about you?

Now, how about those computer monitors that just aren’t standard anymore? The non-LCD ones? There must be some stat out there stating how many times you could circle the earth with those, or times to the sun and back. I love how they make that the standard imagery for waste. I guess it is shocking, circling the earth and all. I think the only way to cut down on this waste is to simply consume and waste less. Can you build an aquarium out of that old computer monitor? (go for it)

4. Less lighting, better lighting. Not only can lighting affect work comfort and office mood, but a well designed and energy conscious office can reduce energy consumption.

Overall I do believe that these changes will come naturally and be implemented over time, as there are cost savings involved, but not without a push from employees. It is our job as employees, bosses and lab rats to be the catalyst to this change. Remember, change at home is one thing, and change at the office is another; one which may in fact be more important in going easy on our land and resources.

Why I Like Forest Ethics (link in my links)

Forest Ethics is about pushing corporate responsibility. If there’s a way to push resource and forest responsibility it is through exposing (and making available) irresponsible activity so they are forced to make changes to save face.

Mark W. who has been kind enough to not only comment on several of my posts but also email me with links of interest, sent me this story focusing on paper vs. online billing. Very topical, and very relevant. Forest Ethics pushes this factor, and is currently bothering Sears, essentially calling them on not giving a shit about paper wastage.

Forest Ethics rolls with that idea that you cannot just scream and yell about environmental issues. So they work within levels that corporations can recognize (change your ways or shareholders will not be pleased), and they use the exposure suite – which is probably their strongest method – to back it all up.

Showing people how to help and introducing ways to care is necessary.

Moving to online billing and advertising is the easiest and most probable method to help save paper. Probable because it helps to reduce annoyance, and easiest because if you don’t have the internet there’s something wrong with you…and someone printed this and mailed it to you which is weird, and wasteful.