During our last spring semester, six fellow students and I worked together on a UNC Capstone course project with Dr. Andrew George, focused on bioenergy in the Carolinas. Though we were all students of the same program, we had varying sub-interests within the bioenergy umbrella.
We must build a lasting legacy for our children. Together we will push back the industries that threaten our forests, and over the coming decades, we will secure the protection of millions of acres across the South, protection that values the clean air and water, climate stabilization, flood control and wildlife that standing, living forests provide.
Right now, Campaign Director, Adam Macon, and Executive Director, Danna Smith, are in Europe delivering your SOS petitions, all 50,000 of them! They’re also presenting new information against the woody biomass industry and standing up for the forests we love.
Half of the world’s forests have already played their part in that story. Today, more than 11 million hectares disappear annually, accounting for 11%-20% of all human-caused carbon emissions. The act of deforestation itself accounts for a staggering 17% of all carbon emissions on the planet. There are so many ways you can help.
I attended the Innovation Forum’s Washington, DC conference on “How businesses can tackle deforestation.” In the midst of all the great discussions, I noticed the deforestation associated with industrial forestry in the Southern US, our own backyard, didn’t get the air time it deserves.
