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Do IT this week: Layering
Nature Conservancy urges American businesses to replant trees in effort to combat climate change
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Friday, May 01, 2009
COLUMBUS: What happens in forests around the world will have a big effect on Ohio, its coal-burning utilities and their electric customers.
Avoiding the destruction of the global forest should be a critical strategy to fight global warming and is one of the most cost-effective and needed ways for American businesses to assist, according to participants in a recent daylong conference sponsored by the Nature Conservancy and American Electric Power.
''Forests have a critical role to play in promoting the well-being of both our environment and our economy,'' said Rob Portman, a former U.S. congressman from the Cincinnati area and a former Nature Conservancy board member.
Added Susan Tomasky, president of AEP Transmission: ''Protecting forests is cost effective and we can do it now, so it is an important part of the solution.''
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and store it. They also provide habitat for endangered species, clean drinking water and offer economic opportunities. But the importance of forests has been overlooked in the ongoing discussions about dealing with climate change, the panelists said.
Forests are disappearing at an alarming rate around the world. One acre of forest is destroyed every second — or 37 million acres a year, an area larger than Ohio.
The loss of the rain forest in Indonesia and Brazil today accounts for 20 percent of emissions of carbon dioxide, a key global-warming gas. That is more carbon going into the atmosphere than all the automobiles, trucks, planes and trains in the world.
Indonesia is No. 3 and Brazil is No. 4 for carbon dioxide emissions, largely because of deforestation, behind the United States and China, data show.
The goal is to develop partnerships between governments, corporations and environmental groups to conserve forests and to replant trees, said Josh Knights, the Ohio executive director of the Nature Conservancy.
Such partnerships are ''a powerful way to combat climate change, preserve endangered habitats and provide economic relief to businesses reducing their emissions,'' he said.
In many ways, it is easier to preserve larger tracts of forested lands in other countries than in the United States, but the global warming benefits are the same, said Bill Stanley, director of conservation for the Nature Conservancy in Ohio.
By supporting forest protection projects oversees, Ohio businesses can earn valuable carbon credits and keep costs of emission reductions low, allowing savings to be passed on to American consumers, the panelists said.
Ohio utilities like Akron's FirstEnergy Corp. and AEP of Columbus cannot get full economic benefits for supporting forest conservation the way things are now.
That could change on two fronts: at the upcoming international global warming conference in Copenhagen and in ongoing discussions in Congress over cap-and-trade proposals for carbon dioxide.
At present, saving forests is not a recognized method to fight global warming under the Kyoto Protocol.
If utilities get credit for preserving forests and planting trees, the cost of such cap-and-trade credits could be reduced by 30 percent, and that would be a huge savings for American utilities and their customers.
FirstEnergy is aware of the importance of forests, is closely following the discussions and sees preserving forests as one viable tool, spokeswoman Ellen Raines said.
AEP, which has 5.1 million customers in 11 states and produces two-thirds of its electricity from coal, has been actively involved in forest-preservation efforts in Bolivia, Belize and Brazil. It has also planted nearly 64 million trees in the United States from 1944 to 2008.
The Columbus meeting was the first of a series to be staged across the country by the Nature Conservancy. Other meetings will be in Denver, Atlanta and Nashville.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
COLUMBUS: What happens in forests around the world will have a big effect on Ohio, its coal-burning utilities and their electric customers.
Avoiding the destruction of the global forest should be a critical strategy to fight global warming and is one of the most cost-effective and needed ways for American businesses to assist, according to participants in a recent daylong conference sponsored by the Nature Conservancy and American Electric Power.
''Forests have a critical role to play in promoting the well-being of both our environment and our economy,'' said Rob Portman, a former U.S. congressman from the Cincinnati area and a former Nature Conservancy board member.
Added Susan Tomasky, president of AEP Transmission: ''Protecting forests is cost effective and we can do it now, so it is an important part of the solution.''
Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and store it. They also provide habitat for endangered species, clean drinking water and offer economic opportunities. But the importance of forests has been overlooked in the ongoing discussions about dealing with climate change, the panelists said.
Forests are disappearing at an alarming rate around the world. One acre of forest is destroyed every second — or 37 million acres a year, an area larger than Ohio.
The loss of the rain forest in Indonesia and Brazil today accounts for 20 percent of emissions of carbon dioxide, a key global-warming gas. That is more carbon going into the atmosphere than all the automobiles, trucks, planes and trains in the world.
Indonesia is No. 3 and Brazil is No. 4 for carbon dioxide emissions, largely because of deforestation, behind the United States and China, data show.
The goal is to develop partnerships between governments, corporations and environmental groups to conserve forests and to replant trees, said Josh Knights, the Ohio executive director of the Nature Conservancy.
Such partnerships are ''a powerful way to combat climate change, preserve endangered habitats and provide economic relief to businesses reducing their emissions,'' he said.
In many ways, it is easier to preserve larger tracts of forested lands in other countries than in the United States, but the global warming benefits are the same, said Bill Stanley, director of conservation for the Nature Conservancy in Ohio.
By supporting forest protection projects oversees, Ohio businesses can earn valuable carbon credits and keep costs of emission reductions low, allowing savings to be passed on to American consumers, the panelists said.
Ohio utilities like Akron's FirstEnergy Corp. and AEP of Columbus cannot get full economic benefits for supporting forest conservation the way things are now.
That could change on two fronts: at the upcoming international global warming conference in Copenhagen and in ongoing discussions in Congress over cap-and-trade proposals for carbon dioxide.
At present, saving forests is not a recognized method to fight global warming under the Kyoto Protocol.
If utilities get credit for preserving forests and planting trees, the cost of such cap-and-trade credits could be reduced by 30 percent, and that would be a huge savings for American utilities and their customers.
FirstEnergy is aware of the importance of forests, is closely following the discussions and sees preserving forests as one viable tool, spokeswoman Ellen Raines said.
AEP, which has 5.1 million customers in 11 states and produces two-thirds of its electricity from coal, has been actively involved in forest-preservation efforts in Bolivia, Belize and Brazil. It has also planted nearly 64 million trees in the United States from 1944 to 2008.
The Columbus meeting was the first of a series to be staged across the country by the Nature Conservancy. Other meetings will be in Denver, Atlanta and Nashville.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Akron, OH
Posted 06:49 AM, 05/01/2009
This is an old story. They drag this one out every few years. They've been destroyin' rain forests for the last forty years, and the tree huggers have been complainin' that long as well.
As I thought, those many years ago, they couln't do anythin' about it then, and they aren't goin' to do anythin' about it now.
uniontown, oh
Posted 10:36 AM, 05/01/2009
Conserving forest key to fighting global warming
********************************************
Yes...and Sheryl Crow would also have us believe that only using ONE SQUARE of toilet tissue per session assist the same fight.
I do believe that the only thing she has following after her is a bunch of flies
Richfield, OH
Posted 11:10 AM, 05/01/2009
Global Warming has been good to Al Gore. He made 100 million off of it and is heavily invested in companies that will benefit from cap and trade.
Hmmmm.....
uniontown, oh
Posted 12:22 PM, 05/01/2009
Gore and company talk about global warming yet continue to live life business as usual so long as they either buy someone else's carbon footprint or plant a tree or two.
I think I'll go plant a couple trees myself and go out and burn a pile of car tires.
Sagle, ID
Posted 02:12 PM, 05/01/2009
Protect forests and protect citizens from flooding and drought..many communities are seeing the results already of climate changes and in action to conserve their forests. For assistance, contact: www.mfpp.org
newyork, mn
Posted 02:36 AM, 05/25/2009
Hi,
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Warm Regards
greenatmos.com Team
http://www.greenatmos.com
