The pine beetles "produced" CO2 almost at the same level of the entire province in 2007!

This is very interesting and scary!
In 2007, BC governement reported a total of 52.1 megatonnes of CO2e from our forest emitted in BC. Almost 80% of the amount officially reported by the government, at 67.3 megatonnes.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/climate/ghg-inventory/pdf/pir-2007-full-report.pdf

Can we call this a dangerous feedback loop?

The Tyee article:
Gov't Buries Fact that Logging Blows Our Emissions Target
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2009/09/23/LoggingCO2/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=280909

I don't understand why the author says that logging is responsible for this issue. By looking at figure 22 (page 57) of the 2007 government report, it is quite clear that logging emissions are quite stable. The real culprit is the pine beetles who makes our forests decay and release GHG instead of sequestration the carbon.

There are some questions raised about the methodology of the calculations as well. The report added the following note:
"All carbon stored in harvested wood products is assumed under current international accounting protocols to be converted to CO2 and emitted immediately to the atmosphere. This is an overestimation of emissions since carbon embedded in wood products is sequestered for an extended period of time prior to the eventual decay of wood products and release of emissions. These protocols may be subject to change in future international negotiations."

Other interesting facts from the chapter 9 and deforestation:
Oil & gas industry creates more deforestation than the forestry industry...

The reports shows many trends from all sectors. A good reading.

Could I sue my student Union for wasting our natural resources?

It is time to have a mandatory waste minimization policy at UBC?

I just came back from volunteering at the orientation BBQ organized by the graduate student society. This event is free and immensely popular amoung new comers. Around one thousand of graduate students line up for veggie, chicken and beef burgers. Many booth explaining student services are also present, many of them touching some aspect of sustainability.

What an irony and a missed opportunity! One of the first thing new students have seen coming to UBC is a huge pile of avoidable garbage! Student were offered non recyclable styrofoam plates to put their burgers in, and non recyclable plastic cup for their "full of sugar only" pop drink.

We have composting facilities at UBC since 2004 and obviously something is not working. 100% recycled paper plates and towels, compostable cutlery, recyclable glasses and proper information signs and bins would have made this event nearly waste free. How come the GSS is not doing anything to minimize its waste during this important event, and this year after year! Obviously they don't take the issue seriously enough and maybe it is time to have a mandatory waste minimization policy at UBC. This policy could fine association and organization at UBC that don't do the basic minimum to respect our environment.

UBC often brands itself as a leader in sustainability for various and legitimate good reasons, but today thousand of new students today would not believe so.