towers of wood

Publisher Robert Rodale, in the 1980's before his death, suggested that systematic harvesting and preserving of our trees could be used as a means to remove carbon from the environment. Of course back then folks would have thought him crazy for suggesting the need for such things. Few but the most progressive thinkers on the planet were ready to understand the greenhouse effect, the effects of atmospheric carbon and the climate crisis that was to come. The big oil companies had done research proving the  disastrous effects from their industry but they chose to keep their conclusions to themselves and invest instead in the careers of politicians who were willing to deny the connections between their industry and the degradation of all life.

Rodale was not just suggesting the harvest of wood, but its use in massive quantities as a way to sequester carbon.

Now green architects are suggesting the very same thing... That whole cities be built of wood as a means of withdrawing and sequestering the carbon from the atmosphere. You can read about this proposal in the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/03/opinion/wood-buildings-architecture-cities.html

Personally, I like our forests just as they are, filled with diverse species of wildlife, and harboring great beauty.  It strikes me as odd that the subject of conservation never comes up. But with the growing effects of climate change, our forests that we love will not stay just as they are, or were before warming.

Robert Rodale was the owner of Rodale Press, publisher of Organic Gardening. So the value of using wood to sequester carbon was not to be done willy-nilly without concern for the natural environment. Use wood as a means to give voice to our most precious natural resources, our trees and forests and they might just save us yet.

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