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With the ever-changing economic and ecological landscape these days, it’s important to stay on top of new ideas for potentially helpful paradigm shifts. With that I mind, I recently reviewed Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy (printed on an FSC-certified, 30% PCW paper) in the latest issue of Quill & Quire (a Markets Initiative signatory magazine). The book presents a bold and timely argument for a radical redesign of our global economic system, taking social and ecological concerns into account.

It’s an important book at a necessary time. Check out my review here.

In late January 2009, papers and media around North America ran the results from a study done by the U.S. Geological Survey that appeared in the most recent issue of Science.

A few of key points in the articles include the fact that forests of the Pacific Northwest are dying twice as fast as they were less than 20 years ago. Scientists say warming temperatures are the reason and suggest this could make forests a carbon source instead of a sink.

From The Globe and Mail article:
Dr. Jerry Franklin of the University of Washington in Seattle, who was one of the report’s researchers, said any carbon agreements among nations and industry should avoid allowing any activity that leads to carbon releases such as chopping down ancient forests that hold huge accumulations of carbon. “If in fact you allow those to be cut down, the net consequence is one of very significant emissions to the atmosphere over the short and medium term,” he said. “There’s no way that you can make up for that, that you can recover that by either creating wood products or by growing a young stand of trees.”

This study supports reports published by ENGOs that show how increased pressure to log intact and old growth forests reduces the forest’s resilience. More than half of the trees logged in Canada’s carbon rich forests every year become paper. Combined with the massive footprint of paper production, it makes me all the more focused on reducing my paper use and using recycled paper when I do need paper.

More articles:
‘Global warming threatens forests, study says,’ CCN.com/technology

‘Death rate of West’s old-growth forests doubled,’ MSNBC

The Globe and Mail had an article this week about the Tanzanian rainforest that brought an important point to mind. When we talk about the potential for biodiversity loss that is inherent in developing untouched forest ecosystems, the focus is frequently on the impacted iconic species that we know - the Sumatran tigers, the woodland caribou, the pacific salmon – but just as important are the countless species that we have yet to know.

Over a two-year period, a team of scientists studying the virtually unexplored rainforests on the South Nguru Mountains of Tanzania reported that they found seventeen previously unknown species of reptiles and amphibians in this threatened ecosystem. These scientists found seventeen major new species in a relatively small area in a very short time.

Hearteningly, the local community has engaged in efforts to try and protect these forests, but the report from the scientists makes the highly valuable suggestion that attention is needed from all sides to succeed in environmental protection with integrity. According to them:

To succeed the programme will need sustained commitment from the Government of Tanzania, civil society organisations, the local communities and development partners to conserve the unique biodiversity of this area.

The same could be said about every endangered forest around the world. The world’s forests are teeming with a rich diversity of life both known and unknown, and it needs to be protected.

At MI we occasionally hear from a few quacks - but this one was my favourite of 2008. Cedric enjoyed my bio quite a bit and was moved enough to write me a few words of excitement. Sure did fluff up my feathers!
-a

Hi Ariella!

My name is Cedric Waterbottom. On behalf of duck enthusiasts everywhere I would like to commend you on your inclusion and comparision to our fine feathered friends - ducks!

“She often shows up for work dripping wet from her bike ride through rainy Vancouver, happy as a duck.”

When I read your biography on the noble website of Markets Initiative, I thought to myself - now here is a person who does not cry fowl (yuk, yuk) of a short bird on a stick. In short, Ariella, we of the feathered clan are most endeared by your comparison of happiness equating a duck. Ducks are all too often ignored and made light of when in essence, their pure being speaks and sings harmonious notes of pure water poetry. “Quack, quack” translates to “I am a sentient being who is in touch with my water drenched role in the ecosphere, and I am praising my attributes and that of fertile mother earth to the heavens and beyond” Hark, is that that a “word up” from the marsh I hear?

But I digress. Ariella, we here at Duck Enthusiasts Inc. would like to extend to you a webbed foot of friendship and offer you the chance to be honorary poster duck of 2009. You will be forever commended in our marsh of fame as someone who is in touch with that little piece of DNA that may be lying dormant and actually may provide the missing link between homo sapiens and water fowl.

So please, nest our offer through and get back to me ASAP.

Your in good quack,

Cedric

This fall saw another exciting first for the work of Markets Initiative. The Globe and Mail, Canada’s premier national newspaper, became the first North American national newspaper to develop an Ancient Forest Friendly policy in collaboration with Markets Initiative. Given the Globe and Mail’s respected profile, this announcement will add significant traction to Markets Initiative’s exciting North American newspaper campaign.

Highlights of the policy include a commitment towards eliminating the use of fibre from ancient and endangered forests, such as the Canadian Boreal Forests, Temperate Rainforests of British Columbia, Alaska and Chile; a commitment to increase recycled content wherever possible; a preference for virgin wood fibre certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and a commitment to explore the use of non-wood agricultural residues.

Markets Initiative looks forward to helping the various staff who comprise The Globe and Mail’s enthusiastic Green Team to work towards achieving the goals of this groundbreaking policy.

This fall, the Globe and Mail also co-hosted with Markets Initiative and Indigo, a highly successful CEO Breakfast speaker series, The Canopy Club, that featured Stephen Lewis as its inaugural speaker. The event is designed to bring together a network of CEOs in the print and publishing sector to create a vision and action plan for conserving the world’s ancient and endangered forests through greening the paper supply chain.

With 100 million trees ending up in newsprint each and every year, Markets Initiative’s work to shift the US and Canadian newspaper sectors to eco-friendly paper options promises big conservation returns for our climate and threatened species like caribou. Congratulations to the Globe and Mail for making change for our planet!

Thanks to significant engagement and support of publishers and printers collaborating with Markets Initiative, two of Canada’s largest logging companies have announced that they will shift to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified logging practices. Within a week of each other, Kruger and AbitibiBowater announced their plans to seek FSC certification. Combined they currently have operations on more than 30 million hectares of Canada’s Boreal forest. Both companies have been urged for years by customers and environmental organizations to improve the sustainability and social record of their logging operations by getting FSC certification. Over the next few years, Kruger will shift all of its operations to FSC management. At this stage, AbitibiBowater has only committed to switch three of their 38 Canadian tenures over to the eco-logging standard but we are optimistic that this is just the start. Customers should expect to see FSC-certified papers from these producers within the next 2 years.

The wonder and beauty of our species are a large part of the inspiration for our work at Markets Initiative. Be it the charismatic mega-fauna of the world’s forests forests with woodland caribou or orangutans, or the enigmatic micro-flora of lichens and microrhyzal fungi—these species are part of the wonder of life.

Unfortunately, all is not well for our friends of the natural world. Latest data from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) confirms that we are in the midst of an extinction crisis with more than half of the world’s mammals in decline and almost one in four at risk of disappearing forever within our lifetime. Hit particularly hard are Asian primates, where 79 percent are now threatened. Closer to home, Canada’s woodland caribou is listed as threatened and endangered across its entire range.

Habitat loss is attributed as the primary cause for the global crisis—with other stresses including poaching for the pet trade, food and medicinals. Despite the bad news, scientists say there is still hope so long as we recognize that “business as usual is simply not an option.” To prevent a species collapse, the IUCN states that comprehensive land protection and significant changes in land management are necessary to get us to clear recovery targets.

“We must now set clear targets for the future to reverse this trend to ensure that our enduring legacy is not to wipe out many of our closest relatives,” said Julia Marton-Lefévre, IUCN Director General.

If I said in passing, ‘Oh by the way, did you know the paper industry is the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases and that’s (just) 3 times more than emissions from global aviation’, would it inspire you to value the paper you use everyday a bit more and consume less?

That is what the SHRINK Campaign, organized by colleagues in Europe is aiming to do.

This week The Guardian UK ran a very informative article on this very topic.

It’s Friday, the last day of the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition’s Bike to Work Week. VACC has these events twice a year - once in June during Bike Month and once in November, to sustain the summer’s cycling momentum and inspire folks to ride through the darker, colder, wetter days of winter.

Cycling used to be a no-brainer for me. I absolutely love riding my shiny red bicycle. She n’ I have ridden thousands of km together, up and down the coast in all types of weather. But over the last few months, I’ve fallen victim to a broken habit. Now I stand in my kitchen in my pajamas and stare at the rain puddling up on the streets or the cyclones of orange leaves getting blown around, and I’m defeated by the “annoyance” of cycling. I live on the third floor in an old house with narrow stairways - dragging my bike up and down is a serious pain in the butt. I can’t find my proper cycling gloves, and mittens are absurdly impractical. My legs are sore from yoga class. I’m reading a great book, and the transit commute is perfect to squeeze in a few chapters… I have no shortage of excuses.

Tom and Fawzia talked about some pretty lofty reasons for hopping on the saddle this week and braving today’s near gale force winds. The truth is, I biked this week for fake ham.

We agreed that if all of us rode every day, we’d get to go for lunch at Bo Kong - the promised land of vegetarian Chinese food. Bo Kong makes spectacular all-veggie food – sizzling “beef” in black bean sauce, turnip cakes, sweet and sour shiitake mushrooms, and mmmm… “ham” with taro sauce, yum! - which, for an office full of veggies was enough to have us pull out the wool and spandex. Yes, the simple joy of being able to order ANYTHING off the 16 page menu is what got me sporting a helmet and racing across the city during this chilly November. Incentive is an amazing thing.

Today we finished our tally. Between both Bike to Work Weeks this year, our office rode 485.2 km and “offset” 97.9 kilos of CO2. And as an added bonus: no piggies were harmed in the making of this 100% cycle-commuting office.

Our work here at Markets Initiative is rooted in what we call systemic change.

When we look at the problem of deforestation, we don’t simply suggest that planting more trees will replace the ones that get cut down. Ecologically, tree plantations can’t replace ancient forests. We take a larger view: we ask why forests are disappearing (trees are still used to make paper); we look at the various factors that feed into that problem (paper consumption is increasing; there’s not enough recycled paper on the market; there’s not enough legislated protection for forests; the list goes on); and we propose solutions that tackle the problem at its source (make people aware of the ecological impacts of the paper supply chain; increase the availability of paper that doesn’t come from endangered forests; encourage companies to implement environmental paper-purchasing policies). It’s about keeping things in perspective.

So when it comes to participating in an event like Bike to Work Week, we take the same view. The point is not to decrease our carbon emissions for five days and think we’ve done our part. Instead, we join hundreds of other Vancouverites to venture out en masse and demonstrate the need—as well as the demand—for a civic infrastructure that encourages compact, human-scale communities, road safety for non-motorized commuters, physical fitness and ecological responsibility. At the same time, we improve our own habits and highlight alternatives for those searching for them.

And here in Vancouver, at least, it’s a good reminder that it’s the climate that’s really in charge!