Just heard from Dr. Herster Barres of Reforest The Tropics in response to the recent Earth Day related post. As some of you may recall, we did a fairly extensive two-part post on his organization. My post on the state of earthly matters painted a fairly harsh picture, but I hope there were some shades of optimism, especially because of the hard work of many eco-pioneers in Costa Rica. Dr. Barres is one of those people, who has dedicated his life to leaving the Earth in better shape than he found it.
“RTT continues to progress. We should reach 300 acres of the RTT Model carbon-offset forest planted by the end of 2009 with the participation of 65 US sponsors. Remember that our goal is to develop and demonstrate an improved model of carbon-offset forests. The Model seeks to make reforestation profitable for the farmer, as profitable as cattle so as to promote the massive reforestation of farm pastures in the tropics. Specifically, the monetary goal is $500/ha/yr. If we can achieve this goal, then we have a good chance of making the forest sustainable. And sustainability means long-term carbon sequestration.
So, more directly addressing your blog, I believe that there may be less of a conflict between profitability (commerce) and good stewardship of the environment.
May 4, 2009
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