Reuters report on Canadian forestry leaves a trail of misleading impressions
A recent Reuters’ “special report” on Canadian forestry opens with the assertion that timber firms “are harvesting large swaths of Canada’s older forests, which are critical to containing global warming.” But is the first part true? Since no...
UN Biodiversity fails to explain why it chose design student’s info over more current and credible forest data from the UN
The United Nations Biodiversity office in Montreal has responded quickly to a blog I wrote accusing it of spreading lies about deforestation. But it hasn’t explained why it favoured poorly sourced and decade-old data over current and far more credible UN data. The...
Why is UN Biodiversity spreading lies about deforestation?
This is a story about the United Nations Biodiversity office in Montreal posting information on the internet that it should know is false and misleading, and which severely undercuts the hard-earned reputation and credibility of the UN as a whole. No one denies that...
“KILLING” AND “SAVING” TREES
What exactly does this mean? To be human, it seems, is to be a hypocrite. We kill trees all the time, and have done so for thousands of years. Same with fish, chickens, goats, sheep, cows - you name it. Sure, we may call it harvesting or farming or some less emotional...
How much primary forest does Canada have?
The environmental media is full of grim warnings about how much primary forest the world is losing and the impact this is having on biodiversity and our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But what exactly is “primary” forest, and how much does Canada have?...
The latest dope on hemp’s claims to be “better” than wood pulp for packaging grades
Hemp promoters aren’t the first, and won’t be the last, to try and knock off wood pulp as the dominant fibre source for paper packaging. And while alternative fibres like hemp, wheat straw, bamboo, and kenaf all have possibilities as blends in a wood-fibre base, it is...
The hypocrisy (and sneaky deception) of Nature Canada
Nature Canada, an Ottawa-based charity that’s been around since 1939, recently added its name to an alliance of environmental groups lambasting the federal and provincial governments on forestry issues, claiming they were complicit with the forest industry in...
There is no such thing as a pristine, undisturbed forest
As a long-time hiker who appreciates forests, I can understand why people would want to describe some of them as pristine and undisturbed, unspoiled and unsullied, unpolluted and untouched. It’s a no-brainer that we would want to protect them from too much (or, in...
Deforestation in Canada and Other Fake News
As the author of a book on deforestation in Canada, I feel I have some qualification to comment on recent claims made by an alliance of environmental groups that the federal government is “spinning” the truth on this...
Who’s “spinning” who? Some facts on Canada’s forests, logging, and the caribou.
The Canadian public would be forgiven for being confused on these issues because there is a lot of false and misleading information swirling around. Here’s an attempt to clarify and explain. First, Canada’s forests. Scientists have divided the world’s forests into...