What's Next For Earth

Three-fourths of the forests in France are in held through private ownership. In light of the pressure from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is great pressure on these private landowners to harvest these forests for wood pellets and firewood. Sustainable yes, but the impact on biodiversity and habitat is immense. Carbon is returned to the atmosphere and a forest can take decades to reach the level of sequestration it had before the harvesting.

The goal in acquiring this forest is to create and promote a biodiversity refuge, one small parcel at a time. Planting native trees and fruits will expand the diversity, food and habitat for insects, birds and wildlife. Water catchment provides a critical resource for the plantings and a pond for wildlife on the side of the hill where no natural spring or source of water currently exists. This simple structure is emblematic of the building of resilience.

“Where resilience is process-oriented and, in ways, value-neutral, sustainability forces us to confront deep questions and uncomfortable potential futures.”

“Courage brings us back to the first foundation, People, because it is the people of the community who will build resilience—and they are the ones who need courage for all the pieces of resilience building…”.