Ruth and I venture to Wilmington…
Last week Ruth and I met in Wilmington for meetings with people and organizations concerned with what is happening to our forests in the Mid-Atlantic. This ecosystem is among the most unique in the world, and is being clearcut for paper and paper packaging.
We met with the Cape Fear Arch Conservation Collaboration , which is a partnership interested in protecting this region while balancing the needs of man and nature. We also met with the Tree Commission of Wilmington, Friends of the Green Swamp and other community members concerned with protecting our natural environmnent.
Overall, a very successful trip. We look forward to future collaborations with these organizations and to building partnerships to protect our forests from unsustainable, industrial logging practices.
We got a tip from a local land trust that there were some fresh clearcuts nearby, so Ruth and I went to check them out and document them. The clearcuts were massive, and a few minutes away is the Holly Shelter Game Lands which “exhibits excellent examples of low pocosin, wiregrass uplands, and bald cypress swamps.”
Below is the video from the clearcuts…
A few highlights…
A couple of weeks ago we sent out a survey asking for your
feedback. Thanks for the great
response! I wanted to post a few of the
comments that were particular highlights. Thanks for the motivation and inspiration to
protect our forests!
“I think you’re doing a great job, great web presence, great e-mail alerts and activity invites. The packaging man game is great-gets people to spend a little time on site. The graphic of the cup on side with spill in shape of tree is great!”
“Don’t stop. I know times are tight, but we have to maintain a clear vision of the world we want to live in if we are going to create that world!!!”
“This campaign is highly important, as Southern forests are used, and other logging corporations competing for trees also go to boreal forest (such as Kimberly-Clark, another maker of useless convenience items). Thus what happens in Southern forests cause changes in the pressure on forests everywhere. This is why I regard your work as vital, aside from the unique aspects of each forest ecosystem.”
“I have 3 children, and while we generally try to avoid fast food, we do sometimes stop at fast food places when we drive from OH to NC to visit family. I have noticed that the “kids’ meals” are especially overpackaged. For example, at Burger King, the apple fries (the healthier alternative side) are first wrapped in cellophane (understandable), but then the plastic bag is stuck in a cardboard fry container! Which gets tossed immediately! And at Long John Silvers, the kids’ meal comes in a cardboard box that is supposed to look like a laptop computer. The cardboard box is even more wasteful than the typical unnecessary individual bag that most kids’ meals come in. I think it would be great to try to get a kids’ campaign going, to have children write to these companies explaining that they don’t need or want all the extra packaging on the meals marketed to children.”
Some other feedback that I wanted to take a second to respond to:
“Your message is unclear. A free refill does not involve an additional cup and saves the fast food companies money.”
Dogwood: No Free Refills For the Forests
“But, then, how should it be packaged?”
Dogwood:
Great question!
If you’re anything like me, cleaning out your car can be kind of fun. Amidst the layers of detritus that only get sifted through once or twice a year, there’s any number of long lost treasures to be found: CDs, jewelry trinkets, coins of domestic and foreign value, etc. But inevitably, the trash pile always trumps the treasure pile. And if you’re still like me, most of it consists of old food wrappings.
This isn’t too surprising, considering that food packaging and containers make up over 30 percent of all waste in U.S. landfills. In the land of instant gratification and a zillion drive-thrus, we’re not encouraged to take the time to consider how much debris we accumulate with every food product we buy.
Nevertheless, the numbers make sense if you tack on a combo meal (at minimum) for every individual of the “1 billion served” listed on a given McDonald’s billboard. The end result? A sumo-wrestler’s weight in food packaging per American consumer a year.
Needless to say, the environmental and ecological consequences this creates are detrimental, to say the least, and Southern forests take a nasty hit. With clear cutting already a problem, the fast food packaging industry merely exacerbates this, and toxic chemicals associated with the clear cutting wipes out the diverse biosphere within the forests. A quarter of the paper products used in packaging comes straight from the devastation. Most people don’t consider the toll forest decimation takes on other environmental aspects, like the air we breathe, the water we drink, what we eat, etc. It directly affects whole communities.
That being said, getting on board with movements to stop the corporate perpetrators like and Georgia Pacific is as beneficial to our communities as it is to a single person. Who wants to be exposed to extra carcinogens? Collective and individual protest like signing letters or blasting the corporations responsible certainly help, but there is more you can do up front. Simple day-to-day actions like “precycling”—eschewing paper bags in lieu of tote bags, re-using coffee cups or using a thermos, preparing meals at home—can make a significant difference over time. And if you have to get your fix, keep abreast of which companies are modifying their business practices, such as using post-consumer recycled paper (McDonalds is reducing the amount of packaging they use, and increasing the amount of Post-consumer recycled content). Of course, taking it a step further and checking out ways to let the “Big 11” fast food companies—including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell chief among them– your dissatisfaction doesn’t take too long either, and has the potential to put enough pressure on them to save a valuable ecosystem.
The fight will inevitably take time and a great deal of persistence, but every small effort on the part of a lot of people can expedite the process. Our relationship with Southern forests is a mutually beneficial one, and the concern at hand is as much for us as it is for the trees. We can’t escape food packaging as a whole, but selectivity can and should be exercised when possible.
Laura Eshelman Communications Coordinator Dogwood Alliance [email protected]
It’s not too early to mark your calendar because the third annual Green Fest event for Dogwood Alliance in downtown Decatur promises to be the best one yet. A day of stellar music highlights the day along
with great local food, Terrapin Beer, Equal Exchange fairly traded products, artists, children’s fun, and general merry making to benefit Dogwood Alliance and the Decatur Preservation Alliance.
Our fantastic partners for the event include the City of Decatur, Southeast Green, Eddie’s Attic, The Brickstore Pub, Paste Magazine, Tree Sound Studio, and Terrapin Beer Company.
You’ll notice we’ve scheduled the event for May 2 (instead of mid-April as in previous years). That’s because this year’s event kicks off downtown Decatur’s annual Concert on the Square series. The time has changed too. We’ll start and 3 pm and party till 9:30 pm.
We haven’t finalized the line up but I can promise you will be getting down! We’ll let you know when the line up is finalized but for now just plan to join us on May 2 in downtown Decatur from 3 till 9:30 pm.
Why should you care about wetlands?
February 2 is World
Wetlands Day
There are people all over the world working for wetlands. On World Wetlands Day, celebrated on February 2 each year, these people collectively stand up and proclaim the benefits of wetlands.
Why should you care about wetlands?
There is a connection between a healthy wetland eco-system and human health. In the developing world, 1 in 5 people do not have access to clean drinking water. Poor management strategies that support the health of wetland eco-systems can affect the health of humans, with wetland-related diseases claiming the lives of 3 million people each year and bring suffering to many more. It is estimated that 1.4 billion people live in water basins where water uses exceed sustainable levels.
From the cypress swamps, pine bogs, pocosins and longleaf pine savannas to the alligators and the unique Venus fly trap, the Middle Atlantic Coastal Forests are home to a rich and diverse swath of the natural world. Indeed this diversity of life is of national and global significance.
Make your own connection by learning the facts about the benefits of wetlands. In the United States, the Cypress Swamps (swamps are one of many wetland types) in Florida can remove 98% of the nitrogen and 97% of the phosphorus pollution preventing contamination in the groundwater
“The wetlands provide a low-cost way to treat the community’s wastewater, while simultaneously functioning as a quality wildlife sanctuary, with public access, as is done at the successful and popular Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary.” (City of Petaluma, California)
WOODY AND HERBACEOUS WETLANDS
Perhaps the most important special community across the region is the forested wetlands which are extremely important ecological communities. Home to such a rich diversity of species, according to the most recent satellite based mapping eff orts, approximately 30 percent of the ecoregion is in either woody or herbaceous wetlands.
However, the National Wetlands Inventory, which is based on more detailed aerial photography and ground mapping, puts the ecoregion percentage closer to 42 percent. Many of the larger, more intact wetlands are in public ownership, and wetland cover diff ers among the three mill sourcing zones. Th e Franklin sourcing region contains the most wetlands (5,671,194 ac) according to the National Wetlands Inventory. Riegelwood was second with 4,440,712 ac and Augusta last with 2,881,871 ac. While according to the US Forest Service industrial forestry and the conversion of these forested wetlands into pine plantation has been the leading cause of the loss of these systems, important examples remain. These extremely important communities should be included in a High Conservation Value or Endangered Forest assessment.
BOTTOMLAND OR WETLAND FORESTS
Bottomland or wetland forests historically dominated the ecoregion with species such as Atlantic white cedar, bald cypress, and swamp tupelo. Logging interests for many decades targeted forests dominated by bald cypress and Atlantic white cedar, and few old-growth forests of this type remain. Bald cypress is a very slow growing species but long-lived (e.g., trees that are hundreds of years old or more are common in pristine bald cypress forests). White cedar has been all but eliminated in Virginia (the Great Dismal Swamp was once a stronghold for this important species) and approximately 90 percent has been lost in
North Carolina. Most of the remaining bottomland (or swamp) forests are associated with the numerous and extensive tidal river systems or in a few larger, non-linear areas (e.g., Great Dismal Swamp) even though most of those have been seriously degraded.
THREATS TO THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC COASTAL FORESTS
The
impacts of industrial forestry on the region are longstanding and severe.
Indeed according to the US Forest Service Southern Forest Resource Assessment,
the leading cause of the loss of forested wetlands across the region and the
South has been conversion of those natural forests into industrial pine
plantations. This process of “ditching and draining” results in the total loss
of that habitat.
TAKE ACTION! Send a message to the companies buying their paper packaging from Southern forests, including forested wetlands. Instead of using Southern forests for disposable packaging, these companies can make better decisions including: 1. Post-consumer recycled content should be maximized in all paper products, because multiple life-cycle analyses clearly show that recycled fiber saves resources and limits pressure on natural forests. 2. Southern Forests are too important to waste in packaging. Increase packaging efficiency and reduce overall packaging. 3. Avoid sourcing paper originating from endangered forests-those remaining natural areas with extremely high conservation values must be avoided. 4. Avoid sourcing paper originating from the conversion of natural forests to plantations. 5. Source paper from lands certified by the Forest Stewardship Council – the only certification that limits large-scale clear-cutting, prohibits the conversion of forests to plantations and requires the protection of high conservation value forests.
Click here to send your message.
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