The longer forests are allowed to grow, the greater the climate benefit. This basic biological fact has given rise to a number of international programs and policies designed to encourage the protection of forests as carbon sinks. In fact, the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, of which many European nations are signatories, has developed a variety of tools and policy frameworks to encourage greater forest conservation.
Why are emissions reduction decisions being made in the real world based on a financial framework at a fraction of the cost of the actual value and real world benefit of carbon? Why are decisions concerning the forests of the South, the lungs of the nation, being made at the fraction of the true cost of carbon?
It was mid-October, the Fall Break of my sophomore year at Duke, and I spent the weekend visiting Asheville and camping in Pisgah National Forest. I immediately fell in love with the city and the mountains and forests that surround it, and I knew that I would eventually have to make Asheville my home. Through the Stanback internship program and Dogwood Alliance, I had the lucky opportunity to do so this summer—while protecting some of the very trees that brought me here in the first place.
My internship developing a business plan for the selling of carbon credits in the virtual carbon market was such a novel thing for me. I was totally obsessed with the idea during my interview for the internship with Andrew Goldberg, Dogwood Alliance’s Director of Corporate Engagement. To explore a completely new field and really contribute my own effort to the project was a dream for me, and what I got as an intern in Dogwood Alliance is far greater than that.
June 19th and 20th marked the Spring 2014 meeting for Carbon Canopy, Dogwood Alliance’s forest carbon offsets initiative. Carbon Canopy is an innovative project that incentivizes forest conservation to create lucrative carbon sinks for landowners and valuable offsets for environmentally conscious businesses looking to reduce their footprint. Partners and stakeholders convened to discuss the state of Carbon Canopy’s mission and goals and to refocus the project’s direction.
