We all live in different communities – our families, our towns, our “online” world, and our professions. In my tree- and forest-dominated world, tectonic change SEEMS to be happening. Often change brings up more and more questions, some comfortable, some not, but probably most necessary to think about.

What’s happening? What am I talking about?

Today more than any time I can remember in my 70 years of life we have the opportunity to decide what kind of forests we want. I know that my communities have one thing in common – they all seem to care about if not love forests and trees. Not surprising. But my community includes a broader group of folks than it did back in the 1970s. It includes investment managers/bankers, biologists/ecologists, foresters, economists, NGO activists, and forest products specialists. The constant thread these days seems to be (maybe I am imagining?) how do we reconcile 8 billion people (and growing) with forests and ecosystems, and the global challenge of human-induced climate change.

If you don’t believe the latter is happening – human induced climate change – I honestly don’t have much to say to you. It’s all around us, everywhere I go (farms and forests in Vermont, Minnesota, Indonesia, etc.). The term “global weirding” still works because it implies that unpredictable, sometimes counterintuitive change. For example, if the earth’s global temperature is rising, why is it still so damn cold where I am? Or why does it seem like there is more rain or more storms or record-breaking snowfalls. I will leave it to climate scientists to keep trying to explain the dynamics, but this writer is convinced something is happening and the question is what we do in response. WE are the problem, you and me. I also think we must be part of the solution.

For forests and trees, there seems to be more attention on them than I can remember in my lifetime. So we have a huge opportunity. We are seeing, after years of building towards it, markets and stakeholder-driven capitalism where people, government and companies will PAY to better conserve or manage forests. Even PAY indigenous groups to do this. Though still lots to be done, I am hearing that in some locations those payments are either close to or MORE than what landowners or communities can make through logging. I know…it’s a new trend and let’s not assume success. But this IS mind-blowing to me. Yeah, its global “capitalism” – not so popular with many – but its also local capitalism which to me is not a value, it is a method for trading goods. It can and does have all sorts of pernicious implications, but somehow I think we need more thoughtful and critical thinking on it, and the relationship between it and forests, trees, communities, and climate change.

Some of the investment strategies happening right now piss off folks. Some NGOs hate “carbon offset” programs because they believe such programs divert resources from energy efficiency, fuel switching or other things to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (carbon, methane, etc.) or climate impacts. Or they hate them because MANY of the original projects, going back to the 1990’s, proposed offsets that were antithetical to biodiversity, proposed using exotic trees species, or didn’t clearly respect the rights and tenure of indigenous peoples. These are all legitimate CONCERNS, but I would suggest they actually represent PRECAUTIONS (and there are others) that we should keep in mind as we design these investments, whether they are “offsets”, “insets” or just conservation or socially-minded investments. I am seeing some of such investments now being designed WITH positive imbedded values that address the key issues we seem to be concerned about. We see offset projects that focus on protecting old growth primary forest (however you define them), require FPIC (free prior and informed consent) with indigenous or traditional communities, focus on native tree species and natural ecosystem restoration, and pay forest owners/residers significant income. Some of the , investments are being made by organizations and individuals who aren’t Darth Vader – these same organizations are involved in or also taking steps to reduce their GHG contributions through other climate- or sustainability-investments (reduced consumption, high energy efficiency, switching to wind or solar, etc.), implementing what some call a credible “mitigation hierarchy”…reduce GHG emissions first, then move on to other measures that restore forests, compensate for existing emissions, etc. Yes, they can do both.

So my question is, IF the driving forces and values behind these new investments are those that reinforce the forest, climate and human values that we want them to, why can’t we support them? We have learned so much about sustainable forests and forestry over the past 50 years, that we know big parts of what we need to do to better manage, conserve and restore forests, including old growth and primary forests. We have more to learn, for sure. But we also need to make sure, from an accountability perspective, that where we invest in sustainable forests “we get what we pay for”. There have been huge changes in new accountability systems (certification, verification, transparency, use of third parties, “environmental and social governance” or ESG tools for investors) and some highly professional organizations and individuals focused on accountability. If the right values and good accountability systems are built in, shouldn’t we be “all in”? Why not? (If you disagree, feel free to post why not.)

A final comment – I for one don’t believe there is ANY single perfect solution or “silver bullet” that will get us out of the mess we are in with human-induced climate change or figuring out how humans can support truly co-survive with sustainable ecosystems, particularly forests. There is no “one size fits all” solution. Sorry. But as Cervantes implied, let’s “tilt at windmills” (real ones, not imaginary like Don Quixote) and embrace promising but imperfect solutions, be transparent about what is being done and the challenges faced, and using continuous improvement, learn and improve, be accountable, but above all DO SOMETHING. Now.