[Washington, DC] The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Board of Directors announced today that it has directed the USGBC’s LEED Steering Committee to address two proposed changes to LEED’s wood and bio-based materials credits… USGBC’s Board took action in response to the escalating debate over wood and wood certification as related to USGBC’s LEED Green Building Rating System. That Materials and Resources Credit 6 (MRc6) be changed from a rapidly renewable credit into a biobased credit, under which wood that is not derived from illegal logging would be recognized. With this change, wood certified through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and possibly other certification systems could obtain this credit … That Materials and Resources Credit 7 (MRc7) should be changed from a wood-only credit to a credit that recognizes certified biobased materials …Initially, for wood products, it is anticipated that only FSC would satisfy the top-tier certification requirements for this credit at this stage. However; as other certification systems for wood advance and as certification systems for bamboo, cork, or agricultural products emerge that would meet the USGBC criteria; they, too, could gain recognition under MRc7.

Dealing with Wood and Biobased Materials in the LEED® Rating System
Key Findings from September 2005 Wood Certification Meeting

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org

Chilean mining companies are poised to completely destroy two glaciers, and create holes the size of mountains, in order to get to the gold and silver at the bottom.

From a friend…

In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from 2 rivers,fed by 2 glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it. Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area. Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers – something never conceived of in the history of the world – and to make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine’s rubbish tip.

The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior.

The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year, 2006.

I wasnt doubtful, but very skeptical as to its validity, as the tone is quite sensationalist.

Sadly, but not unsuprisingly, its a true story. There are even squabbles over indigenous land, fake science, phony public hearings…the works.

Now, I understand that this is in Chile (a beautiful beautiful country, filled with the sweetest people I’ve met this side of Buckhannon)…
Plus its got these… …

BUt I think that its very relevant to note and worth paying attention to for Appalachian highlanders.

Notice the blinding greed which leads people to destroy our most valued homeland. They are exploiting their own people in resources for frivolous commodoties, and to help a few wealthy individuals pack their own pockets.

And…this is the same way they treat the Appalachian people and the Appalachian mountains

…

The only reason it hasn’t started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution.If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of especially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process.

Every last gram of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses.
The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior. Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) passed a formal declaration at its Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-8) in Curitiba, Brazil on 31 March 2006 to recognize the threats posed by genetically modified (GM) (same as genetically engineered (GE)) trees, and urging all countries to approach the technology with caution. This important declaration came in support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) call for an international framework to assess the safety of GM trees in 2005. Pierre Sigaud, FAO expert in forest genetics, warned against rushing to commercialise GM trees before conducting environmental risk assessments in accordance with national and international biosafety protocols. Concerns about contamination from GM pollen and seed drift, and the impact on local/indigenous communities are shared by many forestry experts and civil society organisations around the world, such as the World Rainforest Movement, the Union of Ecoforesty, the Global Justice Ecology Project, Via Campesina, the Independent Science Panel (see “Save our Forests” series SIS 26) and the International Forum on Biodiversity.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org

Vanity Fair, of all things, recently published one of the best pieces on MTR I have ever seen.

Please, please, please go read it.

The Dogwood Alliance is picking up all the right kinds of enemies in their work to protect Southern Forests.

Gandhi once said that when you seek justice, first the opposition ignores you, then they attack you and then you win (paraphrased). We must be close to victory if a recent commentary in the Asheville Citizen-Times is any indication.

On Saturday, May 20, local gadfly Don Mallicoat, published a malicious piece on all that’s wrong with Dogwood Alliance and our friends at Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project in the Citizen-Times. The piece included misrepresentations, right-wing propaganda and a clear lack of understanding of the work that we do.

Read the whole piece

…

We are writing to ask you, if you have a moment or two to spare, to fire off a quick letter in response to the Asheville Citizen-Times. You can do it online.

Here are some key points to consider. First, environmental protection is not the work of extremists. It is the work of people wanting to protect our Southern culture and heritage for this and future generations.

Second, we do not spend our time litigating, we are working in the marketplace to convince Fortune 500 companies to join us and companies like Staples, Office Depot and Bowater in transforming the paper industry.

Third, our work is grounded in facts and science, including key research done by the USFS and leading universities across the South.

Lastly, the forest industry and foresters are changing and adapting to the modern age by dramatically increasing the amount of recycled paper available for purchase and signing on to truly sustainable forestry practices like those endorsed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

We appreciate your consideration and if you want to discuss any of this or have questions or comments, feel free to email me at scot@dogwoodalliance.org.

For our forests and communities,

Scot Quaranda
Communications Director
Dogwood Alliance

The Charlotte Observer has more on citizens who are speaking out against mercury pollution.

A parade of young mothers, doctors and environmentalists on Thursday urged the state’s top environmental board to sharply rein in power plant emissions of mercury, a toxic metal that can impair babies.
Utilities say they’re lowering emissions but can’t promise the 90 percent reductions environmental groups demand.

Mercury has been regulated since October 2005, with the passage of the underwhelming Clean Air Mercury Rule. Mercury is heavier than other “criteria pollutants” regulated by the EPA, and therefore falls to the ground much faster. This means that mercury falls over a smaller area, in which the contamination is much more concentrated and intense.

…

The issue then, comes when industry is allowed to “trade” for mercury credits. This means that, since industry is allowed to choose where they pollute in order to meet standards, mercury is concentrated in even fewer areas with even higher levels of contamination. Some plants will not even have controls at all, as they concentrate on their newer plants, and let the older and more decrepit ones continue to increase pollution.

Mercury most often affects people who eat contaminated fish. Pregnant women, in particular, risk causing learning and developmental problems in their babies. At least 10 percent of women of child-bearing age have potentially unsafe mercury levels, the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated.

I found this to be the most interesting…

The Environmental Management Commission has proposed limits that, like a federal standard to take effect this fall, would reduce mercury releases 70 percent by 2018…North Carolina expects mercury releases to drop about 60 percent by 2013 as a state law reducing power plant emissions takes effect.
Tests at two Duke plants found that injecting carbon into smokestack gases could remove up to 90 percent of the mercury. But results varied widely, Duke said, and couldn’t be consistently repeated.
New Duke plants, such as the two units planned for Rutherford County, will use state-of-the-art controls that will capture more than 80 percent of their mercury.

Charlotte is apparently one of 4 US cities where mercury falls close to the smokestacks that release it.

From the NC Conservation Network:

North Carolina has a growing mercury problem: NC is in the top ten in the country in mercury emissions, 22 types of fish are under a state consumption advisory due to mercury contamination, and 20% of NC women who asked to be tested had unsafe levels of mercury in their bodies. Now is the time for NC to stop mercury emissions at the number one source: our coal-fired power plants. The solution is within reach: 90% reductions by 2010 for all coal plants.

…

Take Action: Speak out against the weak mercury controls proposed by the state’s Environmental Management Commission. The EMC will hold two more public hearings, at which citizens will have 3 minutes to speak.

June 1, 7pm in Raleigh :
The Archdale Building, Ground Floor Hearing Room, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27604.

June 8, 7pm in Winterville :
Pitt Community College, Lessie Building, Room 143, 1986 Pitt Tech Rd., Winterville, NC 28590.

Talking Points are available.

Can’t make it to public hearings? Through June 30, comments can be emailed to the EMC {encode=”thom.allen@ncmail.net” title=”c/o Thomas Allen”}

If you have staff, members, activists, or community leaders, who will be attending one or more of the hearings, please {encode=” peter@ncconservationnetwork.org” title=”let Peter Walz know”}.

Appropriate Strategies Are Needed

[Washington, DC] While the rest of Europe is steadily progressing towards sustainable forest management, Eastern European countries are facing many challenges, following the restitution of forests from the State to their previous owners, Many new forest owners are seeking new skills and resources to manage their forest in a sustainable way. However, their holdings are so small that many owners cannot afford professional advice. There is no established tradition of forest management, nor institutional advice and support. As a result, forest owners are often tempted to sell all the timber to the first buyer, and then abandon active and responsible management. “It is important for policymakers in these countries to identify ways and means to assist private small holdings with professional advice, to enable them to take advantage of expanding markets while maintaining forest quality,” said Wulf Killmann, FAO Director Forest Products and Economics Division.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org

Methods for converting even-aged stands to eneven-aged stands, growth and yield, selection harvest techniques, optimum logging practices, effects on red-cockaded woodpeckers, prescribed burning approaches, regeneration, optimum stand structure for managment objectives, Competition tolerance and release potential of various age classes, Viability of interplanting and underplanting.

News notes are courtesy of Southern Forests Network News Notes
www.southernsustainableforests.org