Oh, Canada!
February 18th, 2007 by Matt
There’s been a lot of tree-talk here lately (check it here and here), but that’s because, well, we like trees and trees like us. So, in that spirit, we’re gonna toss one more your way.
Now, I’m not one to dole out “mad props” loosely, so believe me when I heap those two words of praise on Canada for doing this:
Canada announced…it will spend $25 million to protect one of the largest intact temperate rainforests left in the world.
The Great Bear Rainforest, a 16-million-acre preserve that stretches 250 miles along British Columbia’s rugged Pacific coastline, is teeming with grizzly bears, wolves and wild salmon and is the ancestral home of many native tribes.
Last February, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell said the province would protect close to one-third of the region from all logging and would require sustainable logging practices in the rest.
This seems particularly important and helpful since, according to Global Forest Watch, “less than 8% of Canada’s forests are fully protected.” And since 81% of the lumber exported from Canada goes to the U.S. of A. (that means us).
This article’s got me thinking about ways I could start recycling paper products more, so I think I’m going to make the switch for my printer paper and envelopes. You can even pick these things up at the major office supply stores. Office Max sells 100% recycled paper (here, too), and Staples has their recycled paper products organized almost painfully well (just enter your good ole zip code).
I’m out: I’m gonna get $hopping.
Photo snapped by this cool customer.
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Bris Says
“Mad props” indeed Matt. My wife Jill and I have a special afinity for the temperate rainforests of British Columbia, as this magical corner of our earth is where we spent our honeymoon a little over 3 years ago. As Matt points out, the life this forest supports is equally rare. Check out this link to read about the white “Spirit Bear” that exists nowhere else on our earth:
http://www.savespiritbear.org/project/spiritbear/about_bear/index.html
If memory serves, this forest type covers less than 3% of our earth’s surface. Unfortunately, that number continues to decline due to massive logging operations of which Jill and I also witnessed during our travels. So yes, well done Canada and well done PW for suggesting how we can help by purchasing recycled paper and paper products!
One more suggestion. During a visit to our local recylcing center, Jill and I realized we can also recycle food boxes and the like–basically anthing made from trees. In addition to saving trees, I am also amazed by how few trips we now have to take to the landfill. I would guess that more than a third of our waste filling up each Hefty consisted of cereal boxes and pasta boxes and Kleenex boxes and toilet paper tubes and…well, you get the point. Combined with our efforts to recylce cans, milk jugs, glass jars, and what not, I was amazed at our incredible shrinking cinch sack! I kid you not, the waste generated by the two of us each month now easily fits into 2, 30-gallon garbage bags. Since we pay waste disposal fees “by the bag”, trees aren’t the only green we’re saving!
Feb 18th, 2007 at 8:00 am