Environmentalists rally to save our forests
Posted Apr 13, 2011 01:51:27 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Environmentalists and supporters are demanding that the Dexter government start working now to save our forests. 54 groups from across the province rallied in front of the Nova Scotia Legislature Wednesday afternoon to get the message across.
“Release the now over-due Natural Resources Strategy, reduce clearcutting by 50% in five years,” says Ecology Action Centre Wilderness Coordinator Raymond Plourde. “Ban whole-tree harvesting, stop using public subsidies for herbicide use, stop large-scale biomass energy projects and new clearcutting for biomass fuel.”
Wildlife Biologist Bob Bancroft tells News 95.7 the two biggest problems facing our forests are clearcutting and biomass energy.
“It’s gotten to the point where we’re too greedy as a species,” says Wildlife Biologist, Bob Bancroft. “Basically, the laws of thermo-dynamics may sound boring but they mean that when you burn forest to produce electricity, you’re only doing it at a rate of up to 30%. So we’re really talking about forest habitats here and we’re talking about just using them so we can turn on and off the lights. It’s ridiculous.”
The Dexter Government announced Monday that it’s capping the amount of biomass used for electricity at 350,000 dry tonnes a year. That’s a reduction of nearly 30% but Bancroft says that’s not enough.
“It’s grossly inadequate,” he says. “There’s already too much cutting and to take 30% less when you’re adding 70% more, it’s trivial.”
