Tweet

Western Forests Set to Become Net Carbon Emitter

Guest post by: Paul Kedrosky

Article Overview: This is sort of eye-popping: Forests in the Interior West could soon flip from carbon sink to carbon source, forest experts say. The region's forests once absorbed and stored more carbon from the atmosphere than they released. But huge conflagrations -- like the 138,000-acre Hayman Fire in Colorado in 2002 and the Yellowstone fires of 1988, which scorched 1.2 million acres -- combined with a series of severe bark beetle infestations and disease outbreaks, have left large swaths of dead, decomposing trees in almost every major Western forest.

Western Forests Set to Become Net Carbon Emitter

This is sort of eye-popping: Forests in the Interior West could soon flip from carbon sink to carbon source, forest experts say. The region's forests once absorbed and stored more carbon from the atmosphere than they released. But huge conflagrations -- like the 138,000-acre Hayman Fire in Colorado in 2002 and the Yellowstone fires of 1988, which scorched 1.2 million acres -- combined with a series of severe bark beetle infestations and disease outbreaks, have left large swaths of dead, decomposing trees in almost every major Western forest. Those dead trees are releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide, turning the region into a net emitter of carbon rather than a CO2 sponge. The reversal, which has already occurred in Colorado and is anticipated in several other states, is the result of misguided forest management practices and a changing climate, forest experts say. Rising temperatures, resulting in shrinking snowpacks and drier conditions, have left the region's forests more susceptible to disturbances, such as wildfires, bark beetles and disease. via Land Letter

Related Articles
  Big Foot – Little Foot
  Carbon Offsets
  Calculating Carbon-Levered Earnings
  Emailing Lots of People At Once
  How To Use Carbon Copy Pro As A Strategic Tool For Your Business
  How Carbon Copy Pro Can Help Your Internet Business
  Best Western India Franchise to add 10 more hotels by 2009 end
  Avoid Mistakes Pick An Online Business That Protects Your Investment.
  The Importance of Taking Your Biz Carbon Negative
  Carbon Offsets: Creating Something Real from Hot Air
  Madame-Ultimate Fashion Experience now in Ambala, Punjab
  Start your business in Johannesburg but hire your advisor in Cape Town
  Article #3 Forget The Hype of MLM, Pyramid Schemes and Get Rich Quick Promises!
  Lesson #1: Find Inspiration in your Outside Interests
  The Silver Lining of a “Recession"
  CARBON EMISSIONS ARE LIKE CHOLESTEROL
  Are Carbon Emissions Like Cholesterol?
  Republican Gubernatorial Gains and US Carbon Trading Programs
  Soda Vending Machine = Energy Hog
  Trains going green

Article Tags: atmosphere, carbon source, conflagrations, decomposing trees, disease outbreaks, hayman fire, infestations, interior west, million acres, western forest, western forests, yellowstone fires



Related Forum Posts
Picking an external hard drive to backup my files - Does anyone here use an external hard drive to backup their computer files? And if so, which brand would you recommend? My friend suggested Western Digital or Maxtor... but I read some bad reviews about Western Digital on Futureshop.ca. And more importantly, would you trust buying a supposedly "brand new" external hard drive on Ebay? How could I really tell if it was used or not?
Re: Are entrepreneurs' problems unique? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":2688koxf]Do you think that entrepreneurs' challenges/problems are "unique"? For instance, if you can run a successful business model (e.g. a burger joint) in Canada, do you think it'd be just as easy to replicate that model in the U.S.?[/quote:2688koxf] It all depends, I think. Western entrepreneurs can probably move their model from one country to another without a problem, but cultural differences in the East may cause problems...
Re: What Do You Outsource Mostly? - [quote="Alan Mater":3f2y18nb][quote="christew":3f2y18nb]Writers are my biggest OS cost, but also have software developers and a marketing team.[/quote:3f2y18nb] Hey Chris, How did you find your marketing team? I'm currently looking for an individual to help me market my website. Finding qualified and skilled individuals can be a difficult task. I'm currently searching resumes on Craiglist in the Phillipines as I heard this is a good place to start. What are your suggestions, or do you know anyone looking for additional work? Thanks![/quote:3f2y18nb] Content is probably the most tedious tasks in SEO outsourcing, Alan. I can totally understand not using a freelance service because it's an unmanaged system. Typically I see two ways to outsource copy.... 1. the freelance option - which you may end up spending more time editing the copy than the folks that wrote it. or 2. Use a outsource with a solid structure for content creation with Western management operating the business. This takes care of the extra work involved with managing freelancers.
Re: What Do You Outsource Mostly? - [quote="robdeehan":39jw3p62][quote="Alan Mater":39jw3p62][quote="christew":39jw3p62]Writers are my biggest OS cost, but also have software developers and a marketing team.[/quote:39jw3p62] Hey Chris, How did you find your marketing team? I'm currently looking for an individual to help me market my website. Finding qualified and skilled individuals can be a difficult task. I'm currently searching resumes on Craiglist in the Phillipines as I heard this is a good place to start. What are your suggestions, or do you know anyone looking for additional work? Thanks![/quote:39jw3p62] Content is probably the most tedious tasks in SEO outsourcing, Alan. I can totally understand not using a freelance service because it's an unmanaged system. Typically I see two ways to outsource copy.... 1. the freelance option - which you may end up spending more time editing the copy than the folks that wrote it. or 2. Use a outsource with a solid structure for content creation with Western management operating the business. This takes care of the extra work involved with managing freelancers.[/quote:39jw3p62] Hi Rob, As I mentioned above, I mainly outsource content to an online friend, and I occasionally outsource content to a very reliable freelancer who runs an article writing service which I found in the Warrior Forum. Both provide quality content that I usually go over just to touch things up a bit, but nothing major.
Re: Franchise Surveys - Good topic, thanks Agree with John [quote="JohnHenning"]Another good tool to researching a franchise is to speak with their existing franchisees. However, part of banding to to have confidence in your franchise brand so I suggest you may not get the answers you are really looking for. Further to this is reading the documents is one aspect as the Rosy pitch is offered by the Franchisor Let me share a recent pro-bono clients experience where reading and talking led to an underlying problem, a lack of business sense and preparation. A wealthy Singaporean Lady whose family members just wanted jobs, good or bad so their views to her were also slanted in their favor. Unless it is a household name, you prepare and understand the concepts, agreement and operations of the franchise. You are taking on too much risk. Locally, let get a couple of numbers. Best Western Hotel, an international brand sells for RM400,000 (plus $135,000) and they must approve the location to protect their brand. She was about to take care of her family members (for how long was the unknown) and put out RM600,00 ($200,000) to buy a new franchise of 4 restaurants (2 located in Malls and 2 in lessor locations, 2 big and 2 small) Now as a former Real Estate Broker in another life, I rank restaurant location right up there with buying properties. An to shorten this, some highlights Highlights Franchisor was selling his personal band name and reputation, not the Real value of the Restaurant brand Selling 4 locations help diversify the risk with the better ones feeding the less successful locations, real return on investment much lower, perhaps 50% of estimated returns Had client do their own demographics for the proposed locations, sit, watch, and count the crowd, test the food, where the masses were going to eat, etc Franchisee had to pick the menu for each location and of course buy the food at no loss to the Franchisor, so 4 locations, 4 menus, 4 different risks and and result NO SALE


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

What Is The Foundation for Your Vision?

Top Ten Feeble Follow-up Attempts to Fathom

Maximum Impact Restaurant Greening

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.