Eliot Daley

Make the “Green New Deal” Even Smarter!

February 8, 2019

Everyone should be applauding the emergence of the “Green New Deal”, but the laudatory first draft is missing something critical, as this important article from “The Hill” today makes clear. It’s up to each of us to tell our representatives in Congress that we will evaluate them on their support–and improvement–of what is now being put forward. Read on, and press on: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/429040-forests-must-stand-tall-in-any-green-new-deal

We Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet (Shudder!)

December 20, 2018

With today’s savagely corrupt one-man decision by President Trump to yank American forces out of Syria on the entirely fictional grounds that ISIS is dead and gone, we are seeing him edging toward insanity–the unique insanity of a person deranged by the creeping realization of his fate in the months ahead. With the Democrats in the House getting ready to rip down the coverup maintained by the Republican majority the last two years, and with Mueller’s report likely to be completed soon and leaked to worldwide horror and disgust (I say “leaked”, because I think it’ll get smothered by the AG and never be officially released), he knows his only hope is to create hideous chaos and maybe a war here and there to forestall his being driven from office in time of crisis (even self-made crisis). But we’ve seen diversions before (Reagan and Granada, anyone?); perhaps not as persistent or cunning as Trump’s but it’s not new for embattled Presidents to raise a ruckus.

No, there is a far more devastating–and entirely feasible–calamity that President Trump might inflict on America. And it needs nothing more than a flick of Trump’s pen on paper, declaring a national State of Emergency. I just found out that this lover-of-despotism might legally suspend democracy and become an actual, authorized dictator in the Oval Office. Unless you read this stunning new article from The Atlantic, perhaps you never understood that before, either. That’s why you need to read this right now: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/presidential-emergency-powers/576418/

And then start figuring out what we’ll do when it happens.

Oh, it’ll probably happen, alright. Given what we know about this man and about what lies ahead for him, why wouldn’t he?

Forest “Conservation” Is Not Nearly Enough

August 23, 2018

With climate change racing forward on a scale unprecedented in our lifetimes, it is critically important that we ourselves change the way we think about the care and use of forests to sustain our life-giving symbiotic relationship with them. In this succinct and rather surprising article, our son Jad (who heads American Forests, the country’s oldest conservation organization) names five ways our old thinking must be replaced. Read on below or through this link: https://medium.com/@AmericanForests/5-reasons-we-must-pre-store-forests-for-climate-change-11f4be2dce49

5 Reasons We Must “Pre-store” Forests for Climate Change

Jad Daley

America’s intense focus on western wildfires has recently centered on one question: Does it matter if they are being caused by climate change? While Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has drawn attention for his comments suggesting that it doesn’t much matter, others have also made a similar case. After all, if we have broad agreement on the major actions needed in our forests, do we need to agree on the root cause?

While this line of thinking is not ill-intentioned for our forests, it could be nothing less than a death sentence for them. It is absolutely essential that every single action we take in our forests is informed by our best projection of future climate change. Instead of restoring forests to some former condition, we actually need to “pre-store” them to thrive in a different and often harsher future climate than they face today. That shift in mindset will make all of the difference.

Here are five reasons why the same action done with or without climate change in mind could have very different results for America’s forests.

1. Climate change alters priority locations for action.

A key principle of forest management is to use resources where there is the best combination of high need and high likelihood for lasting success. When it comes to climate-driven stresses on forests like drought, pests, and fire, the risk maps are changing before our eyes. Hockey great Wayne Gretzky used to say, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.” The only way that we will prioritize the right locations for action in our forests is to use climate change science to target priority areas that anticipate future conditions.

2. Climate change requires using old tools in new ways.

Across the forest community, we have gained increasing consensus that our stressed forests now need much more active management than before. This includes activities like thinning forests that are prone to drought or pest infestation as a defensive strategy. But how radically do we have to intervene? This depends on the scale of change you are willing to consider, and climate science is the key to making the right decisions. In some places we might be “pre-storing” forests to a condition we have never seen before to survive radical threats like permanent mega-drought.

3. In some places you need to let climate change win.

This does not mean giving up on our forests entirely in those locations where the current forest is dramatically out of alignment with projected future conditions. In these most vulnerable places we can still create healthy, resilient forests by transitioning it to a new composition and structure that will be resilient to future climate shifts. This requires targeted climate adaptation strategies like using seed stock from more southerly ranges of those tree species currently present on a site, or even planting entirely new tree species that only exist farther south today. These trees will better handle the changing conditions of a warming climate, like drier conditions. Lest you think this is some last-ditch science experiment for the future, some foresters are already accepting these realities, and using tools like the USDA Climate Change Tree Atlas to shift their planting and management to favor climate-resilient trees.

4. Climate risks to forests go beyond increased wildfire.

While western forests are undeniably the canary in the coal mine for climate change, serious climate changes and threats are also afoot in other regions. By climate necessity, some southern forests are already changing to become more drought tolerant. The Northeast is girding for a life-and-death struggle with the hemlock wooly adelgid, aided in its spread by warmer winters. If we only focus on the most visible stresses on forests, such as western wildfires, and fail to make the climate change connection there, we will never get attention and investment to the full range of climate change threats to forests across America.

5. If you don’t name the root problem, you won’t fix it.

Finally, if we don’t acknowledge that climate change is killing our forests, then we won’t address the root cause of climate change, which is carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases. This includes focused efforts to use forests to slow climate change by capturing carbon directly from the atmosphere. If we define the problem as climate change, then it will be natural to integrate carbon capture and storage strategies as part of planning for future forest management.

It is good news that we have reached this point in the public debate about managing our forests, because it means we are starting from a point close to convergence on the interventions that are needed. Public and private leaders from all perspectives are coming to appreciate the full value of our forests, and the urgency of making unprecedented investment in how we care for them.

But to be successful our actions must be climate-informed. Let’s make sure that future interventions in our forests take full advantage of climate change science and climate adaptation strategy to “pre-store” our forests for climate change instead of restore them for past conditions. We have a bumpy future ahead, and we urgently need our forests to be a resilient resource in the face of constant change.

Jad Daley is president & CEO of American Forests, as well as the co-founder and current co-chair of the Forest-Climate Working Group.

Time to Feel Productive Again

April 1, 2020 By Eliot Daley Leave a Comment

I want to give those who read my Op-ed postings a heads-up about a major change in my focus during our sheltering. Enough already with hand-wringing about Trump and “whatever”. Over the next weeks

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SO SORRY!

March 5, 2019 By Eliot Daley 1 Comment

In transitioning my website from one platform technology to an upgraded one, the Go Daddy team inadvertently triggered the re-sending of a couple of golden oldies that you and my other subscribers had

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Why We Actually Love Trump’s Lies…???

May 8, 2018 By Eliot Daley Leave a Comment

As though on cue to reinforce my piece yesterday about how Trump’s incessant lying damages democracy, the airwaves this morning brought the sage perspective of Amanda Carpenter, author of Gaslighting

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