To members of the Forest List, > In the past decade, at least 100 of the more than 140 chip mills in > the Southeast have been constructed. Annual logging to supply these > chip mills has been estimated to exceed 1.2 million acres annually. > > "Though there has been a vast proliferation of chip mills throughout > the Central and Southern US in the past decade to supply the pulp and > paper industry, there is little thorough documentation of the impacts > of the wood chipping industry despite growing public concern," stated > Douglas Sloane, Co-Director of the Southeast Forest Project. > > Since the beginning of this year, citizens throughout the Southeast > have been calling for a region-wide study of the impacts of the wood > chipping industry. To call for a region-wide study is a tunnel vision of the wood-chipping industry. One must really begin with the 'why' question - Why did the wood chipping industry exist at all? Answer: Paper & wood-pulp. BTW, wood-pulp is also use in picture frames manufacture. So, 'no wood-chips = no paper & pulp'. Second question, take away the paper & pulp, what do you get? No books, magazines, newspapers. Meaning no 'Times, The Boston Globe, Wall Street Jounal, Newsweek, PC World, Bibles, Reader Digest, Playboy, Nikkei, etc....also no libraries! If the wood-chipping industry in the USA is not 'green' enough, why not import the wood-chips from, say, Canada, New Zealand, Chile, Sweden, etc... I am sure their forest management could easily rival the USA. So what's the problem? Forest pests & diseases. Now really? So what are the solutions? Fibre, hemp, grass??? Are these the solutions? Can they meet the demands, specifications, price level, of the industry? I wonder. You know what you need in the USA? Environmental organisations with their own respectable team of researchers, technologists, business strategists, who can talk & communicate with the business world. The business world welcomes solutions, not loud mouths! God bless. Nelson Wong MTC
Mail converted by
MHonArc 1.1.0