Coveting The Trees Instead Of The Forest

Need to "do something" about global warming? Why, let's burn the forests! No, really. After all, wood doesn't emit near so much "deadly poison" carbon dioxide as coal when it's burned. We don't have to drill, or dig, or ferment. The trees are, well, right over there on top of the ground. And since we've been turning them into bird-cage liner for a century and a half, we know how to get 'em.

So let's convert coal-fired electric plants to burn wood instead. Think of all the lovely carbon credits we could earn! Think of all that lovely money saved. Lovely green money. Think of all that lovely forest ecosystem going up in smoke? Not so much.

Anyone who reads here at all knows I am no hair-shirt "environmentalist". I like cars, especially old ones. I even have a small woodstove. But I have also studied biodiversity and ecosystem science some and I have seen first-hand the horrifying result of forest clear-cutting in Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia and the US Pacific northwest. Just when it looks like the forests will get a break due to the obsolesence of the newspapers, here come the suddenly environmentally-concious energy companies looking for a way to make a buck on carbon trading. Good bye forests. What's gonna absorb your carbon dioxide now?