A University of Georgia researcher has found that Georgia’s forestlands provide essential ecosystem services to the state worth an estimated $37 billion annually.That’s substantially more than the $28 billion annually from the conventional wood-products industry.This is in addition to the value of timber, forest products and recreation. This is the first time these indirect benefits of Georgia’s private forests have been estimated.
What are these ecosystem services? Continue reading
A while back, while moving things from one place to another, my sister
thrust a book into my hand and said something like “we think you should
have this”.
I didn’t pay it much mind and the book ended up in a box with framed photos because it was of a large format and besides, most of my books had already been packed up and moved.
Fast forward to yesterday when I opened the box labelled “framed photos” and the first thing out was a book.
It turns out that the book was “A More Beautiful America”. Commissioned by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Nancy Newhall and Ansel Adams created a book that is as relevant today as it was in 1965.
Adams’ photos illustrate excerpts from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Special Message to the Congress on Conservation and Restoration of Natural Beauty
The speech is compelling from beginning to end.
The beauty of our land is a natural resource. Its preservation is linked to the inner prosperity of the human spirit.The tradition of our past is equal to today’s threat to that beauty. Our land will be attractive tomorrow only if we organize for action and rebuild and reclaim the beauty we inherited. Our stewardship will be judged by the foresight with which we carry out these programs. We must rescue our cities and countryside from blight with the same purpose and vigor with which, in other areas, we moved to save the forests and the soil.
Please consider finding some way that you can be a good steward and help preserve the beauty of our beloved Earth.
—Gretchen
Protecting forests is not just the right thing to do, it’s good business,
says
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service, November 14, 2009, about a recent UN report:
Protecting natural ecosystems and biodiversity is worth trillions of dollars in annual economic benefits around the planet, says a new report released on Friday by the United Nations.The actual report is TEEB for Policy Makers Report released 13 Nov 2009. The article continues, quoting one of the lead authors of the report:
“The technology of planting trees or replanting forests is thankfully free, and it has no side-effects,” said Sukhdev, who also leads the UN Environment Program’s Green Economy Initiative. “It’s powerful, it’s effective and it’s time tested. We just have to get people’s mindsets changed to start using these natural technologies that are available.”Or just don’t cut down trees when paving roads.