Re: "Beetle puts forestry's future at risk," Aug. 16.
The government's report on the depletion of B.C.'s forests has been known for the last decade and a half.
Forestry companies and the government have been complicit in taking too much timber at an unsustainable rate of cut, and now, due to the devastation of the mountain pine beetle from climate change, our timber resources are becoming scarce.
With a warmer climate, and uncertainty as to what species of trees are best to replant, what is wrong with considering the planting of hemp? (And no, this isn't a plug for the planting of marijuana.) This product is currently grown in Alberta for fibre and replenishes on a yearly basis instead of every 50 years.
Many products can be made from this plant, including clothing, oil from seeds, biodegradable plastics and biomass for biofuel. Similarly, with the pine beetlekilled timber that has become dangerous to mill, the plant could be shredded and processed in a biodigester to provide ethanol fuel. This would reduce the greenhouse-gas emissions of our province from the continual buildup of forest debris that contributes to fuel for forest fires and greenhouse-gas emissions through decomposition.
If the carbon-tax funds were directed toward the clean-energy biomass technology development instead of allowing the near-sighted government's forestry policy of unsustainable cut allowances, our province would be better off.
Rafe Sunshine
Victoria
