forests

A warming planet and changes to land use patterns mean more wildfires will scorch large parts of the globe in coming decades, causing spikes in unhealthy smoke pollution and other problems that governments are ill prepared to confront, according to a U.N. report being released on Wednesday, February 23, 2022.

The White Rock Lake wildfire hammered B.C.'s Paxton Valley last summer, levelling houses, destroying ranchland and killing cattle. But even after the worst of the fire had moved on, residents knew one nasty wind could whip up the flames again.

A U.K. company with a growing monopoly over British Columbia’s wood pellet industry must be forced to divest some of its holdings to protect the province’s forests and the jobs of forest industry workers, a coalition of unions and environmental and public policy groups say.

Ten thousand years ago, when the last ice age gave way to the Holocene, a great migration was triggered in North America: trees began travelling northward, colonizing newly thawed landscapes at a pace of up to 500 metres a year. In a geoclimatic blink of an eye, trees colonized 38 per cent of the landmass now known as Canada, ultimately giving us nearly a 10th of all the forest in the world.

As more old-growth trees topple and forest industry jobs plummet, an obscure government subsidy scheme fuels the collapse.

Studies tell us we can cool the planet through a very Canadian activity: planting trees, writes Rob Keen.

Although deforestation may seem like a problem far away from cities, more than 50 mayors from around the world are assuring us it’s not.

Being surrounded by trees makes us feel good. Erin Moir is training to be a certified forestry therapy guide to help others find peace among the trees.

Over-reliance on tree-planting to offset carbon emissions could push food prices up 80 per cent by 2050, Oxfam said.

Wildfires in B.C. are now pumping more climate pollution into the atmosphere than all fossil fuel burning in the province.

The atmosphere doesn’t discern between carbon emitted from forests and carbon from fossil fuels — but Canada does, writes Jennifer Skene of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

More than 100 celebrities and prominent voices — both national and global — have joined the battle to save B.C.'s old growth. But the Ministry of Forests says their efforts aren't going to work.

While a pitched battle is underway to save old-growth trees on the West Coast, a B.C.-based non-profit is conscripting a contingent of luxury brands that are pledging to eliminate packaging made from the world’s ancient and endangered forests.

Nearly 59 million hectares of forest have regrown since 2000, showing that regeneration in some places is paying off.

Canada's continent-spanning forest used to remove massive amounts of CO2 from the air each year. It was a hugely valuable "carbon sink", slowing the pace of climate change and benefiting our logging industry.