newswire.ca
Tackling climate change with wood
VANCOUVER, July 9 /CNW/ - One of the biggest causes of climate change is
a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide.
Two ways to deal with this are to reduce these emissions or to find ways
to absorb greenhouse gases. Using wood products from a healthy forest can do
both.
When trees are growing, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
and use it to create wood, leaves or needles and roots. They don't release
this carbon until they burn or decompose.
When a tree is harvested, some of the carbon is left behind in the roots,
branches and leaves that provide nutrients for the regenerating forest. The
rest is removed and stored in wood products - often for decades or even
longer.
A research study by FPInnovations-Forintek has found that a typical
wood-frame home can store about 29 tones of carbon - that's as much as is
produced by driving a passenger car for more than five years.
And in a country like Canada this carbon cycle is ongoing because
companies harvesting public land must plant a new forest, which absorbs more
carbon dioxide as it grows.
But absorbing carbon is just part of the equation. Research studies have
proven that manufacturing wood products and building with wood use less fossil
fuel and emit fewer greenhouse gases than other major building products.
Is it any wonder why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has
pointed to the benefits of the world's forests in removing carbon from the
atmosphere while providing products that meet society's needs for timber,
fibre and energy?
To learn more about how British Columbia's forests are helping to tackle
climate change, visit the BC Forestry Climate Change Working Group website at
www.bcclimatechange.ca
For further information: Mary Tracey, executive director for Wood WORKS!
BC, mtracey@wood-works.ca, 1-877-929-9663 ex. 1 |
