A month ago, Dogwood hosted a reporter from the BBC, and on September 22nd, the story aired. Millions of people saw the massive scale destruction of our forests all in the name of meeting the UK’s renewable energy demands. The BBC showed the other side of the climate story, revealing that there’s huge concern about the efficiency and sustainability of using wood for fuel.
You know you’ve effectively gotten the attention of the media when they ask you to speak on a panel about your campaign at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference. On September 7th, I hopped a plane to New Orleans to debate Seth Ginther, the Executive Director of the US Industrial Wood Pellet Association, in front of a roomful of journalists. Over the last few of years, coal burning power plants have been converted to burn wood pellets as a supposedly clean and renewable energy source.
Ten years ago, at a meeting of 250 members of communities affected by large-scale eucalyptus plantations in Brazil, September 21st was established as the National Day Against Tree Monocultures. The aim was to increase the visibility of the many peoples and communities struggling against tree monocultures, as a way of breaking the circle of silence around the numerous violations faced by the communities whose territories were surrounded by these monocultures.
“As an organization working to conserve forests in the largest paper producing region in the world, the US South, we have been pleased with the leadership Domtar has taken to produce paper that has a lighter touch in the woods,” said Danna Smith, Executive Director at Dogwood Alliance. “Domtar was an early adopter of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, when many people said it couldn’t be done in the US South. They proved their critics wrong with the production of Earth Choice and 5 million tons later are continuing to lead the way.”
On Wednesday afternoon, we went up to Chesapeake to get a closer look at the Enviva export facility. The southern part of the Elizabeth River runs through Portsmouth and Chesapeake and is lined with industrial centers on both sides. From the Jordan Bridge crossing the river, it is easy to spot the two enormous white silos that store up to 100,000 metric tons of wood pellets. We paddled our kayaks through Paradise Creek, which runs right next to the domes. The structures are massive. It’s alarming to realize the amount of forests that must be cleared to stock these domes, and the impact of this huge loss on our environment and communities.
