Community Resistance: Standing against Biomass Destruction and Inequality on Blog Action Day

The biomass industry is one more instance of the corporate greed that concentrates wealth in the top 1% of our society, increasing inequality while ravaging the resources of and giving little in return to the communities that bear the consequences. On Blog Action Day 2014, Dogwood Alliance highlights and applauds the community power and resistance that is growing in opposition to biomass and calls on policy makers and biomass corporate executives to stop destroying our forests and our communities. We call on Enviva to halt destructive practices and invest in solutions that work in partnership with communities and the environment.

Dogwood Alliance on the BBC

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.

Dogwood Alliance Supports International Day of Action

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.

The Campaign Takes it to the Field in Virginia

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.

See How Our Forests Fuel Europe

Whole trees are being converted into pellets, and shipped across the ocean to European power plants – all in the name of “clean energy.” Our new infographic is a great visual tool for understanding the issue.