Don't forget Oz's great contribution here: Bill Mollison's permaculture ideas and methods, further Archived Message Posted by Rhisiart Gwilym on July 8, 2019, 9:54 am, in reply to "Re: The myths of forestry as a counter to global warming. " developed right into the present by his disciple - also Australlian - Geoff 'Greening The Desert' Lawton; and many others, worldwide. John, what you describe is indeed a squalid boondoggle that has nothing much to do with honest, realistically-reverent Gaian forms of forestry; a curse on Eire, and - from what you say - in Aotearoa too. But think: most of the obviously corrupt stitch-ups that you are describing are not the result of having more trees, but of doing it the wrong way. That's just a matter of politics and policies, and can be changed easily, and much quicker than forests mature. Better to have the monocultures already growing, than bare, collapse-ecosystem ground with tree-killing sheep monocultures. The plantations can be switched, wisely, to properly permacultured, multi-species forests, using non-industrial, non-rapacious thin-and-replace methods, mainly involving modest applications of muscle power, human and equine, and hand tools. But requiring at the same time political expropriation of the forests from ownership by commercial shysters, and re-designation as vital global commons, held in perpetuity as strictly protected gems of the world's life-robe, and immune to commercial exploitation. Paradoxically, if treated in this way, such forests also provide masses of useful products for human use, on a strictly sustainable pattern. Also, lots of places for people to live and lots of unsexy but soul-nuturing work to do, in loving harmony with the woodlands. It's a matter of will, and a deeply-changed philosophical/spiritual attitude about how we should live on this one and only planet that we have - or are likely to have. In a stark nutshell, its a matter of the destruction of gangster capitalism, and the permanent, forcible restraint of its would-be gangster practitioners. Widespread adoption of forest-permaculture - using Mark Shepard's deeply insightful principles and methods, for example (qv) - would have a rapid deeply-beneficial effect not only on the climate emergency, but on the whole revolutionary idea of living in a genuinely sustainable (much abused word lately, that!) way. The key word in that sentence is 'genuinely'. In fact, the Earth would benefit greatly if - that should be 'when', probably - enough of us would die-off in a big wave, and leave large tracts of ground just to re-forest themselves naturally, without human 'assistance' - hah! It's happened before. And quite probably it will happen again, when Mam G gets finished with slapping hom-sap back down into our proper place, and gets stuck into healing and re-greening HER planet (not ours; 'Anthropocene' be buggered!), as she has done so often before. Our job, witless over-reachers that we are, is to damn-well learn to cooperate with that process. Actually-wise forest-permaculture will be part of that amends-making duty. Can't be too much of that, John! Message Thread: The myths of forestry as a counter to global warming. - John Monro July 8, 2019, 1:44 am Re: The myths of forestry as a counter to global warming. Addendum.. - John Monro July 8, 2019, 3:44 am Re: The myths of forestry as a counter to global warming. - dereklane July 8, 2019, 7:12 am Don't forget Oz's great contribution here: Bill Mollison's permaculture ideas and methods, further - Rhisiart Gwilym July 8, 2019, 9:54 am Re: Don't forget Oz's great contribution here: Bill Mollison's permaculture ideas and methods, further - dovetailjoint July 8, 2019, 3:27 pm Re: The myths of forestry as a counter to global warming. - Gerard July 10, 2019, 12:42 pm Re: The myths of forestry as a counter to global warming. - John Monro July 8, 2019, 9:22 pm   Searching