News & Updates

The Maine Connection to Global Climate Change
By Kristin DeBoer and Beth Wheatley, RESTORE: The North Woods
For Eye on DC, December 3, 2000
Maine Sunday Telegram

Dinner conversation around many Maine Thanksgiving tables this year was no doubt focused on who will be our next president. Conversation around an international negotiating table thousands of miles away was centered on an even bigger topic—the future of our climate and forests. But how many families were aware that this meeting was taking place? How many were aware that its outcome could have a lasting effect on all Mainers? How many know that there are things we can do, right here in Maine, to help reduce the threat of global climate change?

An international summit on the Kyoto global climate change treaty has just ended at The Hague in the Netherlands. At this meeting there was widespread agreement that climate change is a real and urgent threat. Unfortunately, there was deep disagreement on what to do about it.

The impacts of global climate change are becoming apparent. Heat waves, droughts, floods, rising seas, more severe storms, and other extreme weather events are increasingly common. These bizarre changes in our weather patterns will affect all life, human and nonhuman, from Maine's North Woods to its rocky coast, from North America to the Antarctica.

The root of this problem is simple: we burn too much stuff. Too much oil, too much coal, and too much gas to fuel our houses, factories, lawnmowers, computers, SUVs, ATVs, and all our other modern conveniences. At the same time, we are cutting down forests and clearing land for agriculture and subdivisions, thereby destroying plants and trees that would otherwise absorb some of the carbon we are releasing into the atmosphere. Carbon is the critical component in greenhouse gases, which are the cause of accelerating global climate change.

There are two things that we must do to get a handle on the situation. First, we need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gas pollution. This means conserving energy and switching from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources such as solar and wind power. It also means getting serious about driving less, buying fuel-efficient cars, using public transportation, and bicycling or walking whenever possible.

Second, we need to increase storage of carbon to absorb some of the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. One of the best ways to do this is to preserve forests, which act as giant “carbon sinks.” We need to save all of our remaining old-growth forests—they are the best “sinks” because larger, mature trees store more carbon than younger, smaller ones. We also need to restore forests degraded by past logging activities by creating more parks and wilderness areas. When forests are logged most of the stored carbon is emitted back into the atmosphere. This is because most trees are not turned into durable wood products, but rather into products with a short lifespan such as paper.

The recent summit at The Hague was supposed to address both of these critical components. Unfortunately, the meeting ended in failure, thanks in large part to the position of the United States. The U.S. has only 4 percent of the world's population, but we produce 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gases. We have a huge obligation to address this crisis. But as the world’s only “superpower,” we also wield an inordinate amount of influence.

Sadly, the U.S. abused this power by trying to receive credit for mitigating global climate change while doing nothing new to preserve forests or to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. For example, the U.S. proposed a deceptive accounting system that would have permitted us to continue burning fossil fuels, without investing in clean energy technologies or energy conservation. This scheme would grant the U.S. "carbon credits" for our existing forests while allowing business-as-usual forestry to continue—thus encouraging logging companies to cut down native forests and replace them with industrial fiber farms that use clearcutting, toxic pesticides, exotic species, and even genetically engineered trees. Unfortunately, by touting industrial forests as carbon sinks, the U.S. could do more harm than good for the overall health of the global environment.

So what is a concerned person to do when the governments of the world cannot get it right? Clearly, climate change will not hold off until we craft an international agreement. Fortunately, we do not have to wait for the bureaucrats to make progress. Mainers can act locally to fight global climate change.

Most of the focus in Maine to date has been on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. For example, the state has taken steps to encourage more efficient automobiles by proposing the adoption of emission standards based on California’s exemplary model. The recently released Maine State Plan on Climate Change also includes a number of promising strategies which, if implemented, would result in a significant reduction in the state's emissions.

As the most forested state in the U.S., Maine also has a tremendous opportunity to lead the way in restoring forests to store carbon that would otherwise contribute to global climate change. Existing wilderness areas such as Baxter State Park are already serving as important carbon sinks. The establishment of a system of ecological reserves on state public lands is another important step. We can also create a new 3.2 million acre Maine Woods National Park & Preserve, which would become one of the biggest carbon sinks in America.

Many Mainers have already heard about the potential benefits of the proposed National Park. It would provide guaranteed public access for recreation, protection for water quality, a sanctuary for native wildlife, and act as a stimulus for local economies. But what has been largely overlooked is the meaningful contribution a new national park could make to the global environment by helping to stabilize climate change.

A Maine Woods National Park would be a restoration park. Old clearcuts and roads would be given time to heal and the forest would eventually return to a mature state as it was for thousands of years. If the forest is allowed to grow back and is then preserved in a park, it will not only safeguard our cherished natural heritage, it will store vast amounts of carbon, helping to offset the effects of global climate change for centuries to come.

To find a true solution to the global climate change problem, we must ensure both clean air and healthy forests. We must insist that polluters reduce emissions. And we must protect and restore native forests. In doing so, we will not only improve our planet’s climate, we will enhance life on Earth for this and future generations of all species.

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