Climate Change

All the guns of law and reason must come to bare upon the clearcutting in the Sierras because global warming has opened an opportunity to forest activists that has not been available until the UCS, NRDC and the IPCC focused in on deforestation being a LEADING cause of global warming. The Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org) has stated clearly that clearcutting dumps enormous greenhouse gas emmissions into the atmosphere during harvest. They go on to state that plantations and the timber industry formulas about carbon sequestering are "misguided" and should NOT be a mechanism to fight global warming. On their website are two particular links..solution #4 and a general forestry page. Every corporation MUST unite with environmentalists to secure carbon nuetral logging (if that is possible). Cutting OUT Clearcutting is where it BEGINS for billionaire timber barons. If we cannot stop clearcutting, then we can expect equally tragic results from all other polluting industries. The results we get on this issue will reveal what hope there is for our children. Each group involved in forest conservation should get up to speed on the ucs findings and also contact Jerry Brown and TELL him to litigate the clearcutters EXACTLY like the big 6 automakers (CA vs Big 6 Auto). Dr. Amy Luers (UCS) has the clout and the science to make this case for the government. Her specialty includes forestry but she is also the LEAD expert science witness in the CA vs Automaker lawsuit (emissions expert too). That paperwork on that lawsuit is easily found by search engine...the wording should jump off the page to conservationists...this is it. Again, we have a golden opportunity here. Each of us should focus on the momentum rolling in this direction. Its the best shot we have ever had to stop clearcutting. The facts are in- Clearcutting contributes greatly to global warming- www.stopclearcuttingcalifornia.org Mauro Oliveira

Betony, I know this is an important issue, but it's really hard to get a picture of it, much less understand it. What groups or agencies are effectively calling attention to the situation in a way that the average person can get? Is this a huge problem in the long run that is hard to connect with in the short run? Certainly in our lifetimes we might be seeing some effects IF we know where to look. Where should we be looking? And a big question in the very short time frame, as we prepare a national radio documentary on the Sierra for Earth Day 2008, how much weight should we give to climate change? Thanks for your thoughts. Catherine Stifter, Co-Director STS

Seems reasonable to assume that climate change will impact the forests. And it also follows then that our forest management practices will adapt and change. But it seems like forest management practices are subject to long debates, multiple jurisdictions, and embedded in a system(s) that moves very slowly (some might say glacially). From your perspective, are folks involved in forest management that have decisionmaking power looking at the potential impacts of climate change in a way that leads to next steps that can be taken sooner than later? jesikah maria ross, Co-Project Director Saving The Sierra: Voices of Conservtion In Action