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Index of Subjects --Apple-Mail-1--82452214 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi Yt, DW The need to address global warming transcends our usual ideas about = environmental protection. To paraphrase Charles Dickens:=20 It's not about the environment.=20 It's all about the environment. What it's not about is individual acts of good conscience. The problem is our addiction to the abundant and cheap energy derived = from the burning of fossil fuels. When 250 million years' worth of = stored carbon is released into the atmosphere during just 150 years, = there are consequences. The climate heats up. If we don't do something = about it, a radical change to many of the vital ecosystems that sustain = our civilization is inevitable.=20 The fundamental reason for the failure to act on global warming is the = ruthless exercise of political power by the fossil-fuel lobby. We have = to create a political base to counteract the immense power of the fossil = fuel lobby. It's not enough to cut back on personal energy use. It may = make one feel good, but it won't solve the problem. Paul. On 2013-12-04, at 9:10 PM, David & Alison Webster wrote: > Hi Mary, Dec 4, 2013 > Shooting from the hip doesn't solve difficult problems which in = large measure have been generated by simplistic thinking. Or by an = absence of thought. > =20 > If you cut selectively you give the remaining trees an opportunity = to fix carbon more efficiently. If you leave them to die and rot then = all of the carbon of those dead trees will eventually be released as = gaseous CO2. The carbon will of course cycle through myxomycetes, = beetles, fungi, bacteria ... but it all will eventually become released = as CO2. > =20 > =46rom any wood that you might have burned the eventual carbon = release by biological action will equal that released from combustion. = Of course if you don't burn wood completely, which is often the case if = you don't rake coals, then the carbon released by burning will be = somewhat less than biological release due to a residue of charcoal which = is not readily used by organisms and is actually a good way to fix = carbon permanently. > =20 > Even if the firewood is clearcut, provided no more than 10% of a = watershed is cut in any decade, you are still ahead of the game in all = respects. > =20 > As for burning little or nothing, try turning off your power and = heat sources for say the next 6 months; walk to work wearing carbon free = clothes (e.g. animal hides) and of course eat only raw food obtained = within walking distance of home. =20 > =20 > Typically when roads, building lots, commercial outlets (for sale = of insulation eg.) and power lines are constructed/maintained, the wood = is just bulldozed to one side, pushed into huge piles and burned or cut = and piled to rot and worst of all there is no opportunity for regrowth. = So in those cases not only does all of the wood go up in smoke (by fire = or decay) but the habitat for future carbon capture is destroyed or = greatly diminished > =20 > Now one does not need to fly over Truro at low altitude to get = some appreciation of the carbon fixing potential that is obliterated by = power lines. I expect Google Earth will now be just a good. It is huge. > =20 > So don't shoot the messenger.Think about the alternatives and = especially with some correct biology in play. > =20 > Yt, DW > =20 > =20 > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Mary Macaulay > To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca > Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 7:40 PM > Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Leave those old snags up! >=20 > Burning anything is putting carbon back in the atmosphere. Far better = to super insulate our homes and burn little to nothing. >=20 > Mary Macaulay, P.Eng. >=20 >=20 > On Dec 4, 2013, at 5:59 PM, "David & Alison Webster" = <dwebster@glinx.com> wrote: >=20 >> Hi All, Dec 4, 2013 >> I sense some politically correct ideas floating to the surface in = these recent e-mails so I wish to interject some biologically correct = ideas. >> =20 >> Snags sometimes can be good centers of biodiversity; no question. = They sometimes can be, after bark is shed, quite barren of activity = including fungal growth, until they fall and gain earth contact. >> =20 >> Pileated, although they sometimes will work a dead snag or a = fallen rotten birch they mostly feed on ants in live softwood trees = (Hemlock, Fir, Spruce) and something (probably ants) near the tops of = Poplar. Usually when I prune branches from Hardwood trees in the yard I = leave stubs 2-8' long. Downy & Hairy feed on these as they age but I = have yet to see a Pileated there. But just a few feet away I = usually see a Pileated every year or so on the live Crack-Willow = (arthropods in bark crevices ?) and when the Five-fingered Ivy fruits, = feeding upside down on these vines which have climbed a Black Cherry. = Pileated also like Dogwood fruit and I watched one strip a shrub, upside = down again, while I ate lunch. >> =20 >> And one of the best ways to provide growth & feeding = opportunities in live, dying and dead trees into the future is to burn = more wood and less petrochemical fuels. Except for the carbon cost of = cutting and hauling wood, the burning of wood is carbon neutral, in = spite of short-sighted foolishness to the contrary. On the other hand = all of the carbon in petrochemicals is new to the atmosphere and by the = time they arrive in your dooryard already have a large carbon burden; = exploration, extraction & transportation. >> =20 >> The wood should of course be cut selectively, with an eye to = giving healthy long-lived trees adequate room and encouraging a wide = diversity of tree and shrub species. But burning wood cut in any way is = a step in the right direction. >> =20 >> Yt DW >> "To save the forest you must burn trees" DW 2013 >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Nancy P Dowd >> To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca >> Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 5:41 PM >> Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Leave those old snags up! >>=20 >> And when all else fails leave as much of the trunk and limbs as = possible on the forest floor to benefit the birds, plants etc. This is = what I had them do with my old dying maple that was in the path of the = excavator at the camp.=20 >>=20 >> Nancy >> Sent from my iPhone >>=20 >> On Dec 4, 2013, at 3:44 PM, Rick Ballard <ideaphore@gmail.com> wrote: >>=20 >>> A better link than the gigantic google url is : = http://assets.panda.org/downloads/deadwoodwithnotes.pdf >>>=20 >>>=20 >>> On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 3:37 PM, Rick Ballard <ideaphore@gmail.com> = wrote: >>>=20 >>> On Wed, Dec 4