It’s shocking how the beauty is juxtaposed with destruction—we’ve seen a lot of that the last few days we’ve spent in our focal conservation areas along the SE coast.In the Green Swamp it was painfully obvious.One side of the road there is mystical, majestic longleaf pine savannah which takes you away to another world.On the other side of the road, and comprising much of the tens of thousands of acres that makes up the Green Swamp, is land dominated by single-species pine plantations—not a pretty sight.It’s completely bizarre, the trees are actually in rows and there is not wildlife to be seen.It’s sad and shocking.
Lake Waccamaw is the same way, this amazing area is surrounded by IP land—it’s as if the paper company is just waiting for someone to take their guard down so they can sweep in and steel it away to make more packaging for fast food restaurants.
Luckily, there are people who love these areas, whose culture is defined by these areas, and who will do anything to protect these areas.There are people like us, and people like you who hold these companies accountable when they attempt to make such atrocious acts.
The goal of the weekend was to make it up the coast from the Green Swamp area up to Virginia to the Zuni Pine Barrens and The Great Dismal Swamp—both areas which represent the forests we are working to protect. Along the way we plan to talk to folks about the impacts of packaging on Southern forests.
Today we made it Pettigrew Lake after a beautiful drive through rural North Carolina, past farms and forests alike.Pettigrew is home to some of the last remaining old growth in the South.A lot of it was damaged in 2003 during Hurricane Isabel, but a lot of it remains standing majestically. Along the road driving into Pettigrew Lake are rows of 150 year old cypress trees—astonishing.
Joshua with the Virginia Sierra Club met up with us today, and after camping this lovely evening we plan to spend Sunday heading to Virginia to see one of the most unique ecosystems in the South—the Zuni Pine Barrens (if we can find it—it’s not on any map so hopefully we find it before IP does!)
Till tomorrow, Eva
After a restful night’s sleep out under the stars at Pettigrew State Park, Eva, Josh and I headed north in search of Merchant’s Mill Pond State Park near the North Carolina and Virginia border. The drive through the countryside was inspiring, all en route we saw countless signs in people’s yards opposing the OLF the Navy wants to build near important bird sanctuaries and multi-generational family farms. It was heart-warming to see such organized opposition in such a pastoral place.
We finally reached the park and rented a canoe to head into the ancient cypress swamp. This small remnant represents some of the best of what is left and what could have been if the entire area had not been laid to waste to make paper and timber products like fast food packaging. We meandered through the primordial swamp, I’ll use my colleague Andrew’s reference here, it was quite like the Dagoba Swamp where Yoda taught Luke the ways of the Force. Slowly paddling though this ancient place I was inspired by the breath-taking beauty and knew that we must redouble our efforts to protect any special places that remain like this along the Southeastern coast.
Our band of travelers then set off for the north and finally crossed into Virginia. Our goal for the afternoon was to find the Zuni Pine Barrens in Zuni, Virginia. This tract is the last stand of longleaf pine in Virginia. The good folks at Old Dominion University are working to maintain and restore this historic landscape that used to stretch from SE Virginia to North Florida and across the Gulf Coast to Texas and now occupies less than 2% of its original range.
With only a couple of news stories to guide us and no directions, we arrived in Zuni. We stopped at the local general store and were surprised and excited that someone there knew exactly what we were speaking of. Teresa volunteered to guide us there when her shift ended. So thirty minutes later we were following Teresa in her minivan out some sandy country roads. She thought that the restoration efforts were so important and even offered to help her neighbor in his efforts to replant the species for his commercial purposes. The first seedling we spotted brought unfathomable amounts of joy to all of our hearts, after countless hours searching we had finally arrived.
After leaving Teresa we headed up the road and found an “official” entrance to the Pine Barrens. Eva, Josh and I hiked in and marveled at the glory of the place.Picturing in our mind’s eye what the Southern landscape must have looked like hundreds of years ago and knowing that our mission to protect Southern forests and especially these coastal swamps and savannahs was of utmost importance.Yum! Brand Foods and others need to rethink their packaging choices now before these special places that define local culture and harbor countless amazing species disappear.
From the forests, Scot
Another amazing day in the forests of the South. Today we awoke in Norfolk, VA to head to Franklin where the IP paper mill is. This is one of the biggest packaging mills in the world. I’m starting to notice a trend—beautiful forests surrounding the biggest packaging mills in the country. The Franklin mill is no exception to that observation. We followed a truck piled to the brim with logs into the Franklin mill—not a pretty sight at all. We did some exploring and were on our way.
In the afternoon we headed to the Great Dismal Swamp. 111,000 acres of historical phenomena and unique ecosystem. I had no idea that Harriet Beecher Stow wrote a book called Dred, which is a historical tale of slavery and politics taking place in the Great Dismal Swamp. Of course I bought the book, and it’ll be quite a hefty read. I’ll be sure to blog about it when I’m done!
The swamp was amazing, although it was the first time all week that Scot and I were conquered by nature. It’s a good feeling. Next time, we’ll go a couple of weeks earlier in the year. Despite the head and humidity the beauty was so alluring we made it a mile or so in before we had to turn around!
In the evening we headed back to Norfolk for our presentation at the Ernie Morgan Environmental Action Center. It was a great presentation, Scot Q and I have definitely hit a stride on this trip and it’s great to be able to tie in all of the amazing places we’ve been over the last week or so which we’re working to protect. To be able to talk to people about the forests that are in the backyards and share our strategy for protecting these beautiful areas. It was our last presentation, and we rocked it.It’s easy to do after being so inspired and with such a clear vision of how our work is so effective and critical.
One more day on the road, then heading the US Social Forum in Atlanta!
From the swamp, Eva H.
Join Andrew, Eva and Scot as they interview SE North Carolina residents about the damaging impacts of fast food packaging on the forests of the Green Swamp.
Fast Food Interviews Virginia
Fast Food Interview, North Carolina
Southern forests and paper packaging mills
Live from the Green Swamp–one of the top ten ecoregions in N. America.
Yesterday in the Green Swamp in coastal North Carolina I experienced something new and amazing. Not like anything I had ever seen or ever even imagined, the Venus flytraps were in bloom with their white flowers bobbing in the wind, the pitcher plants reaching to my waist, orchids, irises and wiregrass; the long leaf pine savannah ecosystem is amazing. Bending down and staring into a pitcher plant I was transported to another world. Irregular texture and strange snout like lips and strange blends of colors, the plant is so strange and wonderful.Weirdly – I was transported to some distant solar system just beyond Star Wars Tatooine where young Luke Skywalker worked on his uncle’s moisture farm.The plants of this ecosystem are out of this world.
Of course, the long leaf pine savannah ecosystem was one dominant across millions of acres of the coastal mid-Atlantic region. Now reduced to just a miniscule 2% of its historic size, it still has the power to take you to a galaxy far far away. Go down to Brunswick County, NC and experience the wonder of it this piece of the Southern Forest for yourself.
Back on the ground, yesterday evening we had a great turunout for the presentation for the Friends of the Green Swamp (FOGS) in Whiteville, NC. These cool folks have come together working to protect a place they love. Through their efforts, the have so far successfully fended off a misguided effort to site a regional mega-dump in the heart of the Green Swamp. They are an amazing group of people doing good work and we are looking forward to workign with a lot of them into the future. Many thanks to the efforts of FOGS!!!!
At the meeting we talked about our Packaging Campaign and how we will work to connect people and corporations to this special place and to the big Riegelwood Mill that has sucked up wood fiber and driven industrial logging that has done so much ecological damage in this region.After such a great day we now have a much richer story to tell and even more to fight for…. From the swamp
Andrew
On the road highlighting the fast food industry’s packaging problem…
We are on the road again. This time, traveling through Dogwood Alliance’s coastal focal areas to do a series of presentations, highlight the packaging problem’s impacts in this area and meet some of the local community groups also working to protect majestic Southern forests.
After driving through torrential thunderstorms, we pulled into Wilmington, NC for a presentation at the library downtown. Wilmington is a beautiful town, and we’ve met some amazing people here, and it’s only day 1! The presentation at the library went smoothly, with good representation from local environmental organizations like the Surfriders Foundation Cape Fear Chapter and the NC Coastal Land Trust. Everyone is doing such great work and we are excited to be here.
Tomorrow we are gearing up for a tour of the Green Swamp, one of the top ten ecoregions in North America in number of species of trees, plants, and wildlife. It’s also one of the top ten endangered areas in N. America because of industrial logging–Internationl Paper operates a huge packaging mill 24 hours a day not far from here. Be sure to check back in to see some photos of the Green Swamp and why it’s so important to protect. Afterwards, we’ll do a presentation for the Friends of the Green Swamp in Whiteville, NC.
‘Till tomorrow,
Eva, Scot, and Andrew
Why would the music industry go green besides the fact that it’s good for the planet? Lotsa reasons.
The biggest to me being that it IS good for the planet—for our forests, to slow global warming,and for future generations of music lovers.But it also makes economic sense for the music industry. Think about all those millions of CD’s that are being produced, all those booklets, the packaging, the paper. That’s big.
It Pays To Go Green
That’s why musicians like REM, Moby, Rock the Earth, and others have signed on the show that there is a demand for sustainably made packaging, and there are a lot of other ways the music industry can go green!
Think about your packaging choices
· Post-consumer recycled content is readily available.
· Reduce packaging when it is an option
· Use minimal plastic & plastic free packaging with soy-based inks and H2O based coating
· Part of the solution to the climate crisis is recycled versus virgin paper
· Look at packaging companies like Groovehouse records or Ivy Hill, who makes Warner Music Groups sustainable packaging.
Touring is a big one! Offset your Carbon emissions by purchasing renewable (wind & solar) energy credits from companies like Green Mountain Energy and TerraPass .
Give a percentage of your sales to an environmental charity. Tree Leaf Music is a working example of a label committed to supporting effective environmental groups.
Click here to read the article in Atlas Unplugged, “Green is the New Black,” written by Eva Hernandez with Dogwood Alliance.
Atlas Unplugged goes out to 90,000+ industry insiders. Our next Going Green installment will feature bands & labels that are going Green.
Expert: Paper recycling lags in U.S.
By John Green
“…Opportunities for improving recycling efforts for virtually all paper products abound, but the challenge, said Grogan, is in recognizing the payoff.
The reasons for recycling paper are numerous, Grogan said. Doingso reduces the cost of manufacturing new paper products, saves forests, reducescarbon emissions by 3 tons for every ton of paper recycled, and saves substantial landfill space. And paper fiber can usually be recycled up to eight times. …
…It’s estimated, Grogan said, that about 14 million tons of paper used each year in the U.S. can’t be recycled because it’s in the form of tissue, are products like ceiling tiles or are containers that are contaminated by food products, such as pizza boxes.
Another 30 million to 35 million tons that can be captured, however – worth an estimated $2.5 billion to $3 billion annually – is instead going into landfills…”
Remember, 50% of landfill waste is paper or wood products, and a lot of that could be recycled. Click
here to tell Paper packaging companies to stop destroying endangered forests for packaging products that end up in our landfills, and to increase the post-consumer recycled content in the paper they sell.
Well the wind was there but the heavy rain held off until after the event was over…
The Decatur Earth Day celeabration was a big success! Thanks so much to the volunteers, bands, and sponsors who made this all possible.
A special shout out goes to Tree Sound Studios for providing all the sound the day of the event, and to Mion shoes for providing such cool, eco-friendly footwear for all the volunteers and bands.
The biggest rave was around legendary musician Col Bruce Hampton, who headlined the event and staved off the rain after the great music of Jeff Hix and the Heretics, Rural Farm District with Bobby Miller and Scott Warren, along with Rebecca Jean Smith and Stop, Drop & Roll. Amazing music!
Wow, there are some wonderful folks who make up Dogwood Alliance. Thanks again to Terrapin Brewery, Java Monkey, Trees Atlanta, Mike and everyone over at Brickstore pub and Eddies Attic for making us feel right at home! Can’t wait ’till next years event…
Jeff (Acting Executive Director), Danna (Policy Director), and Summer (little Dogwood!).
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