There’s green and then there’s green. A leap of faith in Orlando…

While the weather was surprisingly brisk for Florida in March, the action was hot at the 4th annual Sustainability in Packaging Conference & Exhibition in Orlando. This was my first year presenting at this event and cross my heart, I promise, no Disney characters were harmed in the production of my presentation.

If you want to know how big the “corporate sustainability movement” is you can count the number of heavy-hitters who are buzzing about sustainability. The challenge is how to take that interest and funnel that corporate power in ways that actually improve things in the forests of the US South and around the world.

For me corporate words and goals are not enough. Even changes in incorporate behavior like carving out the very worst actors from your supply chain are not enough. Today true leadership means raising standards. Less bad is not enough. We need better. Corporate dollars for responsible forestry not abysmal clearcuts and lose of habitat and diversity.

It is plain as day that large corporate customers can influence the paper producers whose forestry practices impact forests. Business is not inherently evil, but business is the driving force exploiting forests here in the South and globally. If you want to know why we work on paper -fully 42% of industrial wood harvesting is used to make paper.

Here’s where we stand right now. Roughly half the world’s forests have been burned or cleared or converted to non-forest uses. Human activity has degraded 80% of what remains of our planets vast forests meaning these forests have lost, to varying degrees many of their species and much of the ability to function as healthy ecosystems. And across the world only 8% of forests have some form of protection.

And don’t forget that forests are a critical part of the planet’s defense against climate change. Forests store roughly 50% of terrestrial carbon. Yet our forests historically held far more carbon than they do now. To fight climate change we need to protect and increase the amount of carbon sequestered in our forests and reduce CO2 emissions.

What we need now are leaders, yes you and me, but also big companies with well-know names and deep pockets to get busy.