Dr. William Moomaw discusses "proforestation" with La Pêche Coalition for a Green New Deal

Their most recent event on February 4th included several videos on climate feedback loops and two invited speakers, the most revolutionary of which was Dr. William Moomaw, whose extensive years of scientific research have led him to an unsettlingly simple conclusion: When it comes to forestry management, the best approach is to do nothing, according to Dr. Moomaw who says:

"Nature is already removing far more carbon dioxide than any technology we can imagine. The forests alone are absorbing about 30% of what we put in every year. Net zero means that natural systems are taking out as much as we are putting in.

The technological attempts to do it so far are very close to zero. Yet we’re spending significant amounts of money to develop those, and we’re actually giving subsidies to cut down the forests.

Forestations means to grow forests. Proforestation means that you’re in favour of growing forests. It seems fairly simple, but it has created a bit of a backlash among the people who want to cut forests.

If you look at all the carbon that was in the forests of Oregon in the year 1900 when the forestry industry started, only 19% of it is in wood products today. 65% of it is in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, and 16% is in landfills.

As soon as we get to the point where we have reduced our emissions as much as we can, and we have increased the growth of forests and other systems, grasslands, wetlands and so forth, then we will start removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

As we remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the earth will cool. As the earth cools, these feedback loops will diminish. They will diminish more rapidly the more we cool. So instead of increasing the amount of heat-trapping gasses, we will be decreasing them.

Ironically, it’s a situation where protecting forests is the Amazon, in Nova Scotia or in Massachusetts will eventually refreeze the arctic. It could get to that point."