HIGH POINT, NC – The National Wildlife Federation and the Sustainable Furnishings Council have released the latest list of furniture retailers that depend on sustainably sourced wood.
Companies such as Cisco Home, Williams-Sonoma, The Arrangement, and Working Wonders have ranked highest in sustainable practices.
Susan Inglis – executive director of the Sustainable Furnishings Council – said the scorecard is both a guide for conscientious consumers and a model for retailers looking to improve their timber sourcing standards.
“These companies are all committed to sourcing wood products carefully,” Inglis said, “to avoid contributing to deforestation.”
North Carolina is home to the nation’s fifth largest wood product manufacturing industry. The dashboard is available online at “sustainablefurnishings.org”.
Barbara Bramble – vice president of International Wildlife Conservation at the National Wildlife Federation – explained that much of the wood used to make furniture is harvested from natural forests, but she said wood production can be carried out in a sustainable manner without aggravating deforestation.
About 30% of the world’s forests are production forests.
“Many of the world’s timber harvests are illegal,” Bramble said, “and unsustainable in other ways, damaging forests, soils and water quality, but that is not necessarily the case . “
Inglis said the dashboard goes beyond interior design, pointing out that when trees are felled their stored carbon is released into the environment. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, tropical deforestation accounts for about 20% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions.
“Consumers increasingly understand that healthy forests have something to do with our ability to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change,” said Inglis.
Bramble said momentum is building in wood-dependent industries to step up policies and practices that promote responsibly sourced wood.
“Even in the past year and a half of the COVID pandemic,” Bramble said, “we have found that the number of companies engaging in the wood furniture dashboard, interested in increasing their score, increased with each installment each year. “
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, about a third of the wood extracted from natural forests around the world is used to make wood products.
Disclosure: The National Wildlife Federation contributes to our climate change / air quality, endangered species and wildlife reporting fund, energy policy, environment, public lands / wilderness , salmon recovery, water. If you would like to help support the news in the public interest, click here.
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HARRISBURG, Pa .– Through November, groups in Pennsylvania will plant about 300,000 trees for the fall, as part of a goal of 10 million new trees in the state by 2025.
The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership is one of the projects the state and organizations are undertaking to put Pennsylvania on track for its 2025 Chesapeake Bay Pollution Reduction Plan.
By planting 10 million trees, the state can meet its goal of 95,000 acres of riparian buffer zones, where native trees and shrubs are planted alongside waterways to prevent nitrogen pollution, the phosphorus and sediment end up in Chesapeake Bay.
Brenda Sieglitz, senior director of the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said he has increased the biodiversity of the trees they offer, including species such as sugar maple, hazelnut and papaya .
“We really encourage people to try and take the trees and not only increase reforestation in Pennsylvania, but also use it as a resource to maybe increase food production or use it as a way to add can. -being something on their farm in the form of fruit and nuts. production, ”stressed Sieglitz.
The 10 Million Trees program works with about 200 partners statewide to plant trees along waterways, in low-canopy towns, and on abandoned mining lands. Half of the fresh water that flows into the Chesapeake Bay comes from Pennsylvania.
A Ten Million Trees partner, the Swatara Watershed Association, looks after Swatara Creek, which begins in Schuylkill County and flows into the Susquehanna River in Dauphin County.
Bethany Canner, vice president of the Association, said they have planted around 750 trees so far. She noted that adding more trees to the regional landscape has a positive impact on wildlife.
“Every time we build a development, every time we build a new road, we are removing habitat,” Canner explained. “The more trees we can get in, it provides a bigger habitat than some of these species that need bigger pieces of wood to survive, you know, it helps them survive.”
Project partners have planted over a million trees so far this year and hope to plant 800,000 more this spring.
Disclosure: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation contributes to our Energy Policy, Rural / Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture and Water Reporting Fund. If you would like to help support the news in the public interest, click here.
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OLD LYME, Connecticut – Connecticut will soon join a majority of east coast states in having a federally recognized estuary, which could help identify environmental threats to waterways and natural resources in the Long Strait Island.
Establishing an Estuary Research Nature Reserve (NERR) in Connecticut would bring in up to $ 1 million per year for scientific study and education. Supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the proposed reserve areas include the Connecticut River, which feeds the eastern part of Long Island Sound.
Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society, said that while the reserve funding is not specifically dedicated to conservation, it will help streamline efforts.
“What this will allow us is to collect more data, so when there are voluntary landowners within the boundary, who want their land to be preserved,” Comins explained. “It will help justify the allocation of funds to protect this property by saying it is part of the NERR and other great things about the Long Island Sound-Thames-Connecticut River Estuary.”
The Audubon Society was involved in the reserve planning process. NOAA is taking public comment until next Monday, October 18. Comins has indicated that they expect the specific limits of the reserve to be announced by January.
Comins pointed out that about 400 species are at risk in the proposed reserve, including the wood turtle and salt marsh sparrow. He added that conducting research for the project had an impact on the organization’s conservation priorities.
“This process has caused the Connecticut Audubon Society to focus much more on our estuary and our migratory fish than in the past,” said Comins. “And we hope that this will provide a lot more information about these species of conservation concern and allow us to be much more proactive in our conservation efforts.”
According to the reserve’s environmental impact statement, Long Island Sound is considered one of the country’s most valuable estuaries and, like other waterways, is threatened by pollution and the effects of climate change.
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ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – With more Latino voters expressing concern over climate change, a new report has revealed that a majority of Latinos in Chesapeake Bay watershed states strongly support more funding for restoration efforts there and to increase public access to the bay.
Reed Perry, director of external affairs for the Chesapeake Conservancy, one of the report’s co-sponsors, said the poll shows Latinos care deeply about climate change and the environment.
He believes policymakers in Maryland and the entire Bay Area need to listen to Latino voters, as the U.S. census has shown the state is emerging as one of the most diverse in the country.
“The Latino community represents a large and growing population in the region and active when it comes to voting,” said Perry. “So I think this poll is a sign of things to come when it comes to advocating for greater resources and greater protections for the protection of the environment in the region.”
Despite the economic challenges of the pandemic, nearly 95% of Latinos surveyed said lawmakers need to continue funding the protection of land, water and wildlife in the Bay States. And 93% supported funding to ensure low-income people and communities of color have access to parks and natural areas in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Shanna Edberg, director of conservation programs for the Hispanic Access Foundation, which also supported the study, said the Latin American population is under-represented in policymaking on the east coast, especially in the drafting of environmental laws.
Still, the report showed that Latinos have greater support for climate issues, such as the country’s transition to 100% renewable energy, than other groups.
“There’s this idea that people of color don’t care about the environment, that they have concerns other than conservation and climate change,” Edberg noted. “And this investigation completely puts that idea out of the water.”
The survey also showed that 84% of Latino voters would support the creation of a Chesapeake National Recreation Area, managed by the National Park Service. The site would bring together new and existing parks in the Bay Area and help fund its restoration.
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