MetaFilter posts tagged with logging

Green? Orangutans, biofuel, and logging

ChuraChura — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:20:34 -0800

Green tells the story of one orangutan captured and brought to a rehabilitation facility after her home is logged and converted to a palm oil plantation. This award winning documentary is a powerful indictment of the palm oil and logging industries in South Asia. It is also another voice in the crowd drawing attention to the potential ecological consequences of growing dependence on biofuels. The Sumatran Orangutan is one of the top 25 most endangered primates, and like most of the other primates on the list, is especially threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation. Indonesia's forests are being chopped up or burned down to make way for palm plantations. Palm oil is found in an unlikely variety of products - from Ben and Jerry's to Loreal to Campbell's Soup - and has been used as a biofuel to power commercial air travel. Rain forest woods like teak and mahogany are particularly valuable, but come from the same forests orangutans depend on - rain forest advocates suggest avoiding rain forest hardwood altogether unless it has been certified by a sustainable forestry organization like the Forest Stewardship Council.

Geared Steam

Artw — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 09:41:33 -0800

On a traditional steam locomotive the pistons drive the wheels directly via cranks. An unusual looking series of variants, the geared locomotives, took a different approach - using gears and driveshafts, giving them an advantage in traction at the cost of speed, making them ideal for steap grades and tight curves of logging railroads. The most common was the Shay Locomotive (video), with it's vertical pistons. Other variant included the Climax (video, seen at the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad) and the Heisler, which had it's pistons in a V-formation (video). Many examples of the geared locomotive can be found at the Northwest Railway Museum.

ForestFilter

homunculus — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:00:10 -0800

Old Growth Forests Are Valuable Carbon Sinks. "Contrary to 40 years of conventional wisdom, a new analysis published in the journal Nature suggests that old growth forests are usually 'carbon sinks' - they continue to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate climate change for centuries." Seven Best National Parks for Visiting Old Growth Forests. 20 Visually Arresting but Threatened Forests. The Truth About Tongass: Alaska's Tongass National Forest includes the greatest tracts of rain forest outside the tropics. Subsidized logging is ripping them apart. "I speak for the trees!"

Congo forests sold for $100 worth of sugar

growabrain — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:20:14 -0800

The world's second largest forest and one of the oldest on Earth, was traded for bars of soap and bottles of beer: Logging companies negotiate with local chiefs, walk away rich

Roadless Rule Restored

arrhn — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:58:50 -0800

Judge overturns Bush petition plan on roadless forests and reinstates the Clinton Roadless Rule. The policy gave governors an 18-month interim period to submit petitions to protect their national roadless areas, but the Forest Service sold timber rights to two tracts of land in Oregon (which have already been logged) before Gov. Kulongoski could submit his petition. A copy of the judge's ruling can be found here (PDF).

Tigers bite back

i_cola — Thu, 13 May 2004 11:33:19 -0800

Tigers bite back. Endangered Sumatran tigers have taken the destruction of their habitat into their own mouths by killing three & mauling several other illegal loggers.

Blogging to stop the logging.

maniactown — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 09:58:39 -0800

Treetop Bloggers Protest Logging A group of anti-logging activists are now ready to maintain their own blog 130 feet up in an ancient redwood. I've considered tree sitting, but find myself much more inclined to do so if I could continue working (or reading MeFi, as the case may be). Interesting intersection of technology and activism. Doncha think? (via /.)

bkdelong — Wed, 28 Mar 2001 06:28:35 -0800

Head of National Forest Service resigns. Mike Dombeck was actually "protected" from replacement by the Bush administration but chose to step down and retire when it was obvious Dubya aims to open thousands of acres of national forest to logging as well as new oil, gas and mining operations. What's next? Will Bush lift regulations on how toxic and nuclear waste are disposed of? His new policy appears to be an environmental nightmare.

fusinski — Tue, 06 Mar 2001 19:22:17 -0800

Loggers Said to Wipe Out 22 Million Butterflies It appears that 22 million Monarch butterflies were illegally slaughtered through the use of pesticide in two Mexican butterfly sanctuaries so that loggers can have more forest to tear down. This makes me sick... how can people do stuff like this?