• GodofLies@lemmy.ca
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    23 hours ago

    We’re in the ‘FIND OUT’ phase of what happens when you clear cut an entire continent and replant our forests on a massive scale while thinking that ‘oh all that sequestered carbon will just be recaptured in the new trees we plant’. No - whats happening instead is - the trees we mass replanted don’t capture that carbon back at a rate we expect - I am pretty sure the forestry industry knows this - but hey profits right?

    Also I reckon if we have retained our old growth forests, it wouldn’t be this bad. It would still be bad, but at least our forests would be more resilient. As for those that have no idea what a old growth forest is - think massive trees that are wider than 2 cars at the base and that are over a thousand years old each at minimum. Go visit one when you have a chance - they are increasingly rare because governments are still fucking allowing logging companies to cut them down. Also, you’ll find they’re a lot more humid than young forests (~200 year old ones). It’s a travesty. In BC, for example, 97% of the province have been clear-cutted and our forestry industry likes to tout themselves as ‘sustainable’. It’s bullshit. What’s even crazier is that we got barely any industry other than shipping out raw lumber for processing elsewhere while we lose jobs and taxes on value added industries.