The Problem With Forest Carbon Credits

[@thetimberlandinvestor]

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[@robertgarner2532]

Thanks. Excellent presentation. I live in the south and our mills do not want large old growth trees. We plant loblolly pine, thin at approximate age 15 years and clear cut at age 25-30 years. Even so I feel we are storing significant carbon. We also have significant quantities of deer and turkey to interest hunters.

[@averysanborn]

Carbon-focused environmentalism has been one of the most damaging forces for conservation in America. It has shifted the focus to making people feel guilty for simply breathing, while encouraging the development of millions of acres of forests and farmland into solar farms, wind turbines, battery factories, etc.

[@richardanderson2742]

An excellent piece with spot on analogies with religion. This topic is appropriate for all land owners, whether into timber management or not, since it lays out the authoritarian rationale for micro managing land use.

[@mrbigbadbearbear]

As a career conservationist and former forestry technician, I'd like to address that last point on religiosity. The purists have existed since before Pinchot and Muirs' little spat over Hetch Hetchy. Purists, who typically present themselves as preservationists, are exceptional at accumulating social capital from the general public but are extremely inefficient in translating it into financial capital. Millennial and Gen Z conservationists who work in the field professionally are almost uniformly disillusioned with the nonprofits and government agencies that currently dominate the conservation landscape. If there is a great schism, my bet is on the team who can draw and maintain young, ambitious, career driven talent. Moral grandstanding is one thing, effecting meaningful change is a matter of resource efficiency.

[@daveh4106]

Thanks for discussing this.

[@ftoftheX]

Great content!

[@TheJagjr4450]

BINGO SIR... you hit the nail on the head. I have been stating for quite a few years that this is the old Catholic church M.O. nothing but the selling of indulgencies. Buying them alleviates you of your sin of emitting carbon, based on this it won't be too long before you will be billed for every breath you exhale.

[@Hawxxfan]

Great discussion!

[@HeJurm]

Love your content! Greetings from a forest owner/investor from Finland.

[@HeJurm]

Maybe I should join Silvicultural. We have an advanced forestry industry in Finland but nothing like a social networks for forestry, and with tools!

[@kn-df6cr]

hell yeah someone had to say it

[@BarryMartin-gr6ex]

They don't need more insurance to cover when land owner reverts back to baseline management of the land after the 20 year contract is over. They just admit the program has more or less failed and go bankrupt. This is of course after they've been collecting 20 years of revenue from selling the carbon credits.

[@hooliorama]

The bigger issue is that current fossil fuels are mostly from eons of algae that died, not trees…. the “re-tree” equivalent of what we are burning would be MANY original Earths of full tree…. If we replanted every tree back to the original 2 trillion we once had, it wouldn’t even come close to the carbon we are burning, and is still in the ground.

[@thetimberlandinvestor]

This is also true, but I'll give them credit from a "one tool in the toolbelt" perspective.

[@ericbloomberg5795]

And…..Bingo!

[@JK-zw8ec]

Excellent analysis. Carbon credits, carbon capture and carbon sequestraion. Seems pointless. A program about "nothing".

[@sandsock]

so lets look allowed at this as a property owner. if i sold some both through my woods and agricultural practices for growing crops. they got to sold to some bad guy like bill gates or ow gore. whats to stop the govt from deciding i'm exceeding my approved amount of electric or fuel and they start fining me. i see a problem coming in the future, they will try to force me into a vehicle that doesnt work in my cold climate. or i cant afford to buy food. or i cant grow my cattle anymore. i dont want anything t do with them and their baited trap.

[@jackquillen9120]

The most damaging thing you can do is be absent from your community. We had an issue for 3 years where our council members would only give 4-8 hours notice and would constantly walk out when someone bad talked him. Took 3 years to get him to resign. Seriously if you live somewhere go to your city or town council meetings. Federal governments should have little to no affect on someones life. I believe state and local govs would be much more effective. But for that to happen people have to know whats going on in their community

[@jacksprat7087]

The problem with carbon credits is that the world needs more CO2, not less.

[@mcmoore02]

Right. And all the more reason to take advantage of the system. Think less about the logic, and more about forest land owners receiving payment from big corporate donors who want or are required to virtue signal to their market.

[@wrfarms9741]

I appreciate the presentation and the effort put into it. I think you should do more research into Forest Carbon Credits and maybe gain some experience before condemning this area of forestry management . Forest Carbon Credits for sure are NOT for everyone. Depending upon the acreage of forest land, time since the last clear cut, and personal management goals, forest carbon credits can make a LOT of sense for forest land owners to be paid for what they ARE currently and would ordinarily do.

[@thetimberlandinvestor]

They do make sense--as a subsidy. But if they are currently doing it and would ordinarily do it, it's not a valid carbon credit. That's the point. The outcome is being measured against what would have happened anyway.

[@wrfarms9741]

@@thetimberlandinvestor Agree IF you really do believe in the climate change hoax, I suppose carbon credits can me rationalized. Good forest land management benefits EVERYONE, the public especially if you like clean air, clean water, wildlife, and common sense conservation. Part of being a good steward of the land & in this case forest land is to find as many ways as you can to make the land pay for itself without destroying it. Carbon credits/sequestration is just one avenue. In view of the outrageous property taxes imposed upon forest land owners who carry the public on their proverbial backs, this become a survival necessity.

[@mcmoore02]

He did mention clearly that carbon credits will make sense for some forest landowners as a subsidy for what they are already doing. Many forest landowners are already doing that in many countries.