The Stationers Guild

Today we celebrate Earth Day.  While cutting down a tree to celebrate Earth Day may seem like a crazy idea, David Foster, an ecologist and the director of the Harvard Forest, seems to think it might actually be helpful.  In a fascinating article by Robert Sullivan in the April 19th New York Times Magazine, Mr. Foster argues that “land stewardship” and managing forest public properties in an “ecologically sustainable manner,” may actually increase the intake of carbon and contribute to a healthier climate.

While Mr. Foster’s ideas may seem like heresy to the Green movement (he is called “Dr. Death” in some circles), his 24 page phamplet called Wildlands and Woodlands proposes “leaving  areas designated as wildlands untouched” and connect state and federal forests and wilderness areas through “aggregated chunks of private land.”  Trees would be harvested from these private properties under sustainable farming programs.

I have no way knowing whether Mr. Foster’s proposal is a ”good” environmental program, but he is a scientist and  experiments in the 3,500 acre Harvard Forest certainly add credibility to his arguments.  I was flabbergasted to learn that the peak de-forestation of Massachusetts occured around the time of Henry David Thoreau and that this third most densely populated state is now on the top 10 list of most forested states in the United States.

“Going green” has hit the stationery industry in a big way.  Unfortunately, most of the “eco-chic” claims are misleading or simply irrelevant in the greater scheme of the environmental movement.  Programs and experiments developed by Mr. Foster and others suggest that man and nature can live in harmony.  On Earth Day let’s toast an environmental movement based on substance, experimentation and facts rather than the “feel-good” marketing hype which dominates much of today’s media.