We Are the Stewards of Carbon

by Andrew Weaver
 
Ottawa Citizen, January 30 2009

As we learn more about global warming, we continue to recognize that decreasing industrial emissions of carbon is always the No. 1 priority. In Canada, we have the additional opportunity and responsibility to be effective carbon stewards by maintaining large areas of our boreal forest off-limits to industrial disturbance.

 
Living in times of unprecedented climate change has given way to new uncertainties. Every day, new evidence points to fundamental changes in our natural world. Most recently, there is more news that warming temperatures are killing our forests (“Tree deaths skyrocketing,” Citizen, Jan. 23).

It’s tempting to respond with radical new approaches to forestry beyond our base of knowledge. But a conservative, responsible outlook demands we take a deliberate accounting of what we know and what we can control. And that scientific accounting points decisively toward the most effective option within our control — increased boreal forest conservation.

Global warming is likely to increase the rate of fires and insect damage in Canada’s forests. This will increase the amount of carbon released due to natural events that are beyond our immediate control.

But apart from fire and insects, there are measures that we can readily control. We can reduce forest-related carbon emissions by reducing industrial disturbance in our forests.

Click here to read the rest of Professor Weaver’s article.

Andrew Weaver is a professor and Canada Research Chair in climate modelling and analysis at the University of Victoria. He was a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and advises the Pew Charitable Trust’s International Boreal Conservation Campaign (www.interboreal.org). His most recent book is Keeping our Cool: Canada in a Warming World.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/op-ed/stewards+carbon/1233679/story.html

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

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Further reading:

“Time to Resurrect Rio: The Case for Carbon Stewardship,” by Dr. Briony Penn, published by The Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia in The Kingfisher, Volume 17, September 2008′

and Responses to the B.C. Climate Action Team’s forestry recommendations from British Columbia environmental non-governmental organizations
October 6, 2008
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/climate/BC/BC_ENGO_comments_on_CAT_report_-_forest.pdf

WCCE Board Members Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Science Advisor to the Sierra Club of Canada – B.C. Chapter and Guy Dauncey, President of the BC Sustainable Energy Association both contributed to the latter paper.

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It is not just about climate. It is, and always has been, about the carbon. We need to place carbon back in the center of the equation. From atmosphere to ocean to cell, the carbon burden is the problem. Itʼs the heaviest load anyoneʼs ever placed on an unsuspecting planet, and the more we learn, the more its dimensions appear ever more staggering. Carl Safina
 
We’ve got carbon, and right now that’s the most frightening stuff on earth. Bill McKibben