Selective logging, as the name suggests, is not a perfect solution. In a selective logging operation, only the trees of commercial value are removed. The goal is that the forest will have enough trees left to regenerate so it can be harvested sustainably. (Journal of Applied Ecology). A 2005 article in the Stanford Report cited a study revealing the previously-hidden destruction of selective logging. At the time it was published, satellite images had just begun to detect areas where selective logging had gone undetected. Speaking on the topic of logging, Putz stated, “We aren’t advocates for logging…we’re just acknowledging that it is a reality—and that within that reality, there is a way forward.” 

With that said, Putz’s research shows there are some benefits to selective logging. While it does affect biodiversity and carbon retention negatively, the damage is “survivable and reversible to a degree” if the forest has enough time to recover. In forests where selective logging had occurred, he found that they retained between 85 and 100 percent of their former animal and plant species diversity, and roughly 76 percent of their carbon. Putz and his team came to these conclusions after analyzing 100 studies covering three continents on tropical forests with logging operations.

In large part, tropical forests are developed to produce agricultural products such as food, feed, and increasingly, fuel. View deforestation rates here. The strong economic incentives for these products is what leads to deforestation.  According to Putz, a forest sustainably managed to retain trees and biodiversity can net roughly $2,000 per acre every 20 to 30 years, while a palm oil plantation can earn the same in less than one year. Despite the huge financial incentive against sustainable harvesting, Putz says crackdowns on illegal logging operations can help raise the price of sustainably-logged timber. Though far from an ideal solution, Putz, an applied ecologist, believes it may be one of the only options that will work in the real world.

Image

Here are a few facts about that trend.

• In 2011, the country imported just 45 percent of the liquid fuels it used, down from a record high of 60 percent in 2005.
• Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have been around for years, but over the last five years, engineers have fine-tuned these and other techniques, even as many environmentalists worry about their impact on water and air.
• Some advances include: Computer programs have been developed to simulate wells before they are even drilled. Advanced fiber optics permit senior engineers at company headquarters to keep track of drillers on the well pad, telling them when necessary where to direct the drill bit and what pressure to use in injecting fracking fluids. Seismic work has become far more sophisticated, with drillers dropping microphones down adjacent wells to measure seismic events resulting from a fracking job so they can more accurately determine the porosity and permeability of rocks when they drill nearby in the future.
• Just a decade ago, complete wells were fracked at the same time with millions of gallons of water, sand and chemical gels. Now the wells are fracked in stages, with various kinds of plugs and balls used to isolate the bursting of rock one section at a time, allowing for longer-reaching, more productive horizontal wells.
• A well that might have taken 30 days to drill can be drilled in just 10, for a savings of $500,000 a well.

Sources: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/from-engineering-marvels-a-turnaround-in-u-s-oil-output
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/business/energy-environment/inching-toward-energy-independence-in-america.html
Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

However, this was the first ever survey of green goods and services jobs, so we don’t yet have something with which to compare the results. Out of the total 3.1 million jobs categorized as green, the private sector provided the most green employment opportunities. The public sector contributed 860,000 jobs.
It is still hard to define and measure green jobs, as this Washington Post article points out:

In the past, employment in this field has been hard to measure because there’s been no consensus on what constitutes a green job. For its assessment, the Labor Department counted certain jobs in manufacturing, construction, utility and other sectors in which the primary function was to contribute to a green product or service. That includes the manufacture of hybrid vehicles, the production of solar power and construction projects such as weatherization. It did not include, for example, jobs in grocery stores or restaurants that primarily sell organic food.

President Obama has been championing green jobs as a growth area for post recession recovery. These numbers should not be used to tout his policies or refute them as the report does not include any growth figures and does not show how the numbers changed over time.

Among the private sector, manufacturing accounted for the greatest number of green jobs. Construction also contributed significantly with 372,100 jobs and professional, scientific and technical services added 349,000 jobs.
Perhaps not surprisingly, California had 340,000 green jobs in 2010, more than in any other state and the District of Columbia, equalling 2.3 percent of total employment.

[Image]

Along with the incredible boom in natural gas production over the last several years in the United States, North America has been the place for booming oil sands production, with our neighbor to the north now ranked number 3 in the world in oil reserves. There are environmental impacts and risks in extracting both of these resources. However, not taking advantage of these local energy sources would be foolish.

Consider the ramifications of importing oil and natural gas from abroad. Extraction has to often be done in unfriendly countries or countries that don’t have the same environmental regulations, safeguards, and oversight in place as the U.S. and Canada. The fuel also has to be shipped across the world, causing pollution and using enormous amounts of fuel and energy just to bring the resources across the oceans to our shores. This says nothing of the political risks – that we are all too well aware of – in needing to keep countries from Venezuela to Nigeria to Iraq politically stable so that our supply of fuel is not disrupted. Vital sea lanes, or oil transit chokepoints, from the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Strait are also constantly patrolled by U.S. vessels in order to keep these supply routes free of pirates and unilateral disruptions caused by countries such as Iran. 14 million barrels per day, or a quarter of all oil carried by sea, passes through the Malacca Strait alone. Most of that goes to China and other countries in Asia and as long as the U.S. remains a superpower, it will be needed to patrol these sea lanes for the sake of world-wide stability. However, the point is to reduce the direct impact on the U.S. from events happening in far-off lands.

9 years of war in Iraq and decades of various entanglements overseas caused mainly or in part by our reliance on foreign oil should have taught us to reduce that dependence where and when we can. Well, we now have the chance.

While total energy independence is still an ideal not to be reached in the near future, the potential to bring in oil from our friendly Canadian neighbors is really a no-brainer. Canada will sell it to someone, and Prime Minister Harper was just in China to talk about exactly that. Would you rather have that oil be transported (causing pollution) half way around the world to a country that has less stringent environmental regulations and is an economic rival? Or extend and expand the pipeline infrastructure already in place to bring oil to our refineries here at home? Would you rather read about how rebels in Nigeria and Iraq have blown up another pipeline that carries oil eventually destined for U.S. cars and trucks, or see an article about the jobs created in a politically stable, human rights protecting Canada?

We will not be able to insulate ourselves from the whims of world oil market price fluctuations or the political ramifications of rogue countries and rebellious factions, no matter whether the Keystone Pipeline gets built or not. We also have to continue to move toward a future renewable energy based economy that is truly necessary for long-term sustainability. But, as the Prius is a bridge from the combustion engine to all-electric, natural gas, or other alternative fuel vehicles, the resources in North America should be a bridge to lead us toward an energy future less reliant on petrol dictators and energy sources from abroad. From an environmental and foreign policy angle, it just makes sense.

[Image]

But one could argue that the maze of regulations, battles with the U.S. Supreme Court, and inefficient big organizations like the EPA actually stifle companies from becoming more environmentally responsible. An already established department or part of government – Congress (oh, it is currently barely working), Treasury, or some other organ – could curb behavior.  But a simple, fair, modest “externality contribution” or “clear air bonus” or some other phrase to get around the word “tax” would be so much easier, faster, transparent, and effective than the mazes of regulations, while still allowing the true cost of economic activity to be taken into account. Such regulations often have loopholes that tax savvy companies can exploit anyway.

Companies currently do not police themselves or directly pay for much of the pollution their operations produce. Therefore, it is necessary for an outside organization with clout (i.e. the government, in the guise of an efficient EPA perhaps) to provide the framework and policy implementation to help the common good. This is not perfect, but like democracy it is the best of the options we have. In order for big business to coincide with a clean environment, there needs to be something more than the invisible hand of the market; something like the very light hand of government.

[Image]