Norm Benson

The Optimistic Environmentalist

As a child of the 1960’s On April 22, 1970, I, along with 20 million others that day, attended one of the first Earth Day celebrations. We had heard the predictions and we were duly frightened. In those days, most of us in the environmental movement worried about air pollution causing another ice age throughContinue reading “The Optimistic Environmentalist”

Happy New Year

May the promise of the new year be fulfilled for you and yours.

The Top 13 Environmental Stories of the Aughts

Here is my olio list of profound and profane environmental news of the past decade–the aughts. Hurricane Katrina From the toxic sludge left behind on the land to removal of the vegetative buffers by encroaching civilization, hurricane Katrina exposed so many of our environmental shortcomings, all in one storm. Al Gore’s Inconvenient Nobel Peace PrizeIContinue reading “The Top 13 Environmental Stories of the Aughts”

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Timberati

Major Cuts in Carbon Emissions Are Not Worth The Cost

That’s the motion debated (Oxford-style) January 2009 on National Public Radio’s Intelligence Squared. The program runs about 45 minutes and was well worth my time. FOR THE MOTION: Peter Huber, co-author of The Bottomless Well and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Bjorn Lomborg, creator of the Copenhagen Consensus Philip Stott, biogeographer and the editorContinue reading “Major Cuts in Carbon Emissions Are Not Worth The Cost”

A Green Recovery

This was written by Bill Keye, Government Affairs Specialist for the California Licensed Foresters Association. On a scale not seen since the Great Depression, unemployment and underemployment continue to grind away at California and the United States. 27 years ago, in November, 1982, the unemployment rate in the Golden State hit 11.0%. It hung aroundContinue reading “A Green Recovery”

Timber’s Term of the Week: Organ Player

organ player n. The sawyer at a lumber mill.

Timber's Term of the Week: Organ Player

organ player n. The sawyer at a lumber mill.

Tree Planting Tips

A while ago I asked, “What’s wrong with this picture of two women planting a tree?” The tree planting is part of an Odwalla promotion. Odwalla is donating $1 per click toward the purchase of trees for planting in a state parks in one of eleven states (including California). I’d like to see them expandContinue reading “Tree Planting Tips”

The Green Loss Effect

Policymakers must address the influence of global deforestation and urbanization on climate change, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to Georgia Tech’s City and Regional Planning Professor Brian Stone in an upcoming paper to be published in the December edition of Environmental Science and Technology. “The role of land use in global warmingContinue reading “The Green Loss Effect”