Let’s Talk Trees
Trees are amazing! They can bear fruit, provide shelter, entertain children, give shade, suck up carbon — and that’s all before humans chop them down! Once felled, trees can be made into just about anything we need. (See Roland Ennos’ book: The Age of Wood.)
Amongst themselves, trees conduct sophisticated conversations to warn each other of danger; they can feed young ones who may need more nutrition; and they share resources with each other so that more of their species can thrive. As a group in a rain forest, the canopy they build serves as a home for more species than inhabit the forest floor. What’s not to like?
Well…trees can be scary! When there are floods or high winds, their root systems loosen up and they can fall on your house or block an emergency evacuation route or take down power lines for miles around. When it’s dry, and this summer was very dry in many places, trees are stricken with drought and stand as massive piles of kindling just waiting for a match to be lit in the form of a lightning strike, cigarette butt or tire fire set by a bunch of yahoos filming a TikTok Video.
Most tragically, the fire in Maui resulted from the dire combination of dry conditions and neglect of power lines on the part of Hawaiian Electric. The loss of life and property dues to wildfires there and around the world has reached record levels with twice as much tree cover burning today than it did twenty years ago.
On balance, trees come out ahead in terms of how important they are in our ecosystem, especially in an era of rapid climate change. According to the National Resources Defense Council, forests absorb about a third of the world’s carbon emissions with certain tropical forests absorbing carbon at higher rates than other types of forests. While we won’t be able to rely solely on growing trees to get us out of the climate crisis, it’s an important part of the plan.
The question then becomes how do we grow a lot of trees…fast? Therein lies the rub. Trees are trees and they take their time in growing. While the timber industry would have us believe that trees farmed as monoculture provides the same benefits as a self-generating forest, they don’t. Wild regrowth builds forests that are more hardy and more diverse which makes them more reliable and resilient for carbon sequestration. Once again, humans just need to get out of the way of Mother Nature (and cut carbon emissions STAT).
― Kate Starr, Co-Founder & Chief Investment Officer
Back in May the New Yorker’s Jill Lapore wrote a beautiful and informative piece on trees. She pretty much said it all so you might as well read it!
Lyme Timber is one of the longest-operating independent forest management companies and investment funds in the US. Its sustainability practices include attention and caring of forests as ecosystem. Lyme adheres to the Forest Sustainability Council’s principles of sustainable management. Any investor looking to invest in forests or timber should look for evidence of FSC certification.
The Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, is associated with many positive cognitive and physiological benefits such as improving one’s sense of well-being, lowering blood pressure and keeping stress levels low. Spend as few as ten or twenty minutes in the woods and all that good health can be yours! (Just keep an eye out for coyotes or black bears, depending on which creature is losing its natural habitat in your neck of the woods. Yikes.)
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This newsletter is intended solely for informational purposes, and should not be construed as investment/trading advice and are not meant to be a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any securities mentioned. Any reproduction or distribution of this document, in whole or in part, or the disclosure of its contents, without the prior written consent of Flat World Partners is prohibited
Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Our privacy policy is available at anytime for you to review in order to understand how we protect your personal identifiable information. By subscribing to the newsletter you have consented to our policy
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