Timber Companies Finding Profit in Leaving Trees Uncut
June 18, 2008 · Print This Article
Timber companies are facing a reality check right now: the public’s desire for timber products is waning, which means the companies are making less money. This fact has forced timber companies to come up with new and fresh ways to turn a profit. Ironically, this may mean a dramatic change within their industry: leaving trees alone instead of cutting them down.
From Reuters:
Because uncut trees are stores of carbon, forest owners may be able to extract value from them by just leaving them alone, particularly as a U.S. market for trading carbon emissions develops, experts told a conference in San Francisco.
Also, timberland owners and investors can sell easements that protect resources or wildlife, or provide sustainable fuel for burning in biomass power plants.
“Conservation and biomass are new return drivers,” said Andrew Kelsen, director of alternative investments at investment consulting firm Gray and Co.
Doesn’t it just warm your heart to know that timber companies are being such do-gooders? Oh yeah, they’re just doing it to make money. Regardless, we’re glad to hear they’re tackling these issues. It’s huge that companies are realizing that they can ‘go green’ and still make a profit, and in some cases, make even more money than before.
Link [Reuters]
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Doesn’t it just warm your heart to know that timber companies are being such do-gooders? Oh yeah, they’re just doing it to make money.
—- Hmmm, and you thought that ANY company runs just to “feel good”??? Where did you go to school? Harvard?
Regardless, we’re glad to hear they’re tackling these issues.
—- Thanks, all anyone needs is YOUR aproval.
It’s huge that companies are realizing that they can ‘go green’ and still make a profit, and in some cases, make even more money than before.
—- More money? Unlikely. People still need paper to wipe their behind (or you, Stephanie are using your hand?) and lumber to build houses (or you are living in a cave?) And those two needs will always beat the need to “feel good about the environment”.
FYI: trees DO store carbon, and SO DO the houses made of LUMBER from these trees.
How do we let the guys cutting down all of the rainforest trees in on this?
Gee, T., could you be involved in the timber industry?
We don’t care if companies go green just to make money. Regardless of what their intentions are, it’s great to see companies make a move in the right direction. Of course there will always be a need for things like toilet paper, but in the future I’m sure they’ll come up with something that doesn’t require cutting down fresh trees just to wipe our asses. You know, like that crazy newfangled thing called recycled paper… or maybe something entirely new.