panic like the wind

As a consumer in tropical timbers, I am very concerned and deeply interested in the future of the world's rainforests. Because of these concerns, I have joined several international organisations that are active with resource conservation and the wise use of our earth's treasures.  I am committed to our forests by actively participating in these and other associations that add value and conserve the rainforests of the world.

guilt free furniture

Whether you have commissioned some furniture, a sculpture or all the other ‘ure’s you can think of, I like to give each of my clients a gift voucher for a TreeTube™. This is just one of some great ideas from Future Forests to help conserve our woodlands.

With TreeTubes™, you can dedicate native trees in specially selected forests and your gift is presented in a Carbon Neutral tube.  Each TreeTube™ contains a commemorative certificate – for you to complete with a special message – and a map of the forest so it can be visited.  You can dedicate one tree in any of the ‘celebrity forest’ which are associated with bands and individuals who support Future Forests - and receive a specially designed certificate. 

Future Forests

Future Forests is a UK-based company with a global vision: to protect the earth's climate.

They recognise that to some degree we all contribute to global warming - but also that we can all do something to slow it down. They make it quick, easy and enjoyable for everyone to find out how much carbon dioxide they produce and what action one can take on climate change.

There is a huge amount of celebrity support for Future Forests. Here’s what Coldplay have to say,

“The greatest idea that anybody has come up with recently has nothing to do with the internet, or cell phones, or satellite tv, it is simply that we should plant more trees. The benefits are enormous, more oxygen, more beauty, more animal life, whilst the dangers of doing nothing are becoming more and more apparent. Global warming, soil erosion and the destruction of so much wildlife are just some of the problems that are going to plague us more and more in years to come if we don’t keep planting trees at the same rate as we destroy them. That’s why Future Forests are amazing.”

myths & legends

There are hundreds of weird and wonderful myths and legends associated with trees. Here are a few of them.

 

Lucky trees

Many trees are thought to bring luck to those who cross their path, but usually with certain provisos...

• If a farmer can see the sun shining through the branches of an apple tree on December 25, he will reap a healthy crop the following summer. But for this to come true, he would have to put a piece of toast in the fork of the tree, or the largest tree in the orchard!

• Cherry trees can also be lucky for farmers - the owner of a cherry tree could be sure of having a rich crop of fruit if the first cherry to ripen was eaten by a woman who had recently given birth to her first child

• Diviners in search of water hidden underground use the branches of the apple tree

 

Unlucky trees

• Along with the aspen, fig and the oak, it is thought that the elder may have been the wood that was used for the cross at Christ's Crucifixion

• In some parts of Europe it is believed that branches of the elder should never be taken into a house or used for fire wood, because of the negative forces at work when it is present

• The hawthorn is also considered to be a tree destined to bring bad fortune to the owner, as this is the thorny tree that some believe was made into the crown of thorns used at Christ's Crucifixion

 

Protective trees

• People once carried branches of the bay tree overhead during storms, as it was believed that this tree was never struck by lightning

• The yew has been viewed as a protector of the dead and also a symbol of immortality, becoming a common feature in graveyards across Europe

Trees with predictive qualities

• The flowering of the hawthorn tree has often been seen as a sign that winter is over and spring is underway

• Hazel nuts were once also believed to possess mystical powers - predicting whether or not a courtship would be successful or not, by either moving towards or away from each other when placed together

 

Trees that have religious associations

• The Jesse Tree portrays the genealogy of Christ. It can be found in manuscripts and stained glass, where Christ is seen among and above the branches of the tree, shown as a vine issued from Jesse (father of David)

• In Indian culture, the Manorathadayaka was a sacred tree that grew in the garden of Vidyadharas. This tree was believed to be able to grant any wish or desire, even being able to fulfill the desire to have children

• The hawthorn in ancient mythology is said to have been created from lightning. The Germans traditionally used wood of the hawthorn in funeral pyres as it was thought to assist the souls of the dead in ascension

did you know?

The oldest tree known is a redwood named Eternal God. The tree, found in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in California, has a height of 238 feet and a diameter of 19.6 feet. It is believed to be 12,000 years old, but this figure is disputed; others believe the tree to be only 7,000 years old, still a world record.

The biggest tree : The living tree with the greatest mass is General Sherman, a giant sequoia (sequoiadendron giganteum) in Sequoia National Park in California. It is 275 feet tall with a girth of 102 feet and 8 inches.

The sleeping tree : In 1927, a horticultural mission set out from Bombay to investigate reports of a tree that lay down at night and went to sleep. According to a description of the tree published in the Bombay Chronicle, it slowly inclined toward the earth after sundown, until at midnight it lay completely on the ground. Then it began to rise slowly and, by dawn, was once again standing upright.

The greatest girth of a tree was recorded in the late 18th century on Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy. A European chestnut (castanea sativa), known as the Tree of the Hundred Horses, had a circumference of 190 feet. It has since separated into three parts.

Deepest roots : The greatest reported depth to which a tree's roots have penetrated is 400 feet by a wild fig tree at Echo Caves, near Ohrigstad, Mpumalanga, South Africa. The greatest spread of a tree occurs on a banyan tree in the Indian Botanical Gardens in Calcutta. It has 1,775 prop or support roots, a circumference of 1,350 feet, covers three acres, and dates from before 1787.

The tallest tree known to have existed is an Australian eucalyptus at Watts River, Victoria in Australia. It was reported in 1872 to measure 435 feet tall, but probably measured over 500 feet at some point in its life.

The tallest living tree is a coast redwood known as the Mendocino Tree found in Montgomery State Reserve, Ukiah, CA. It is about 367 feet and 6 inches tall with a 10.5-foot diameter and is over 1000 years old and still growing.

The fastest growing tree is an albasia (albizzia falcata) in Sabah, Malaysia. In 1974 it was found to have grown 35 feet and 3 inches in 13 months - about 1.1 inches per day.

The most isolated tree known is a solitary norwegian spruce on Campbell Island in the Pacific. Its nearest companion is over 120 nautical miles away in the Auckland Islands.

The most dangerous tree is the manchineel tree (hippomane mancinella) of the Caribbean coast and the Florida Everglades. This species has had an evil reputation since the Spanish explorers first feared it in the 16th century. The entire tree exudes an extremely poisonous and caustic sap that was once used as arrow poison. Contact to the skin causes an eruption of blisters; contact to the eye can blind a person, and one bite of the fruit causes blistering and severe pain.

 

interesting facts and figures about trees

• By cooling the air and ground around them, the shade from trees helps keep the earth cool

• Hospital patients heal faster, require shorter stays and less painkillers if room windows face trees

• Well-placed trees can cut air-conditioning costs by 10 - 50%, and reduce heating costs by as much as 4 - 22%

• Trees are the longest-living and largest-living organisms on Earth

• 1 ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees

• 1 ton of 100% virgin (non-recycled) newsprint uses 12 trees

• If the current rate of deforestation continues, the world's rain forests will vanish within 100 years

• Worldwide, the number of tree species may exceed 50,000

global warming

Global warming is caused by the build up of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere - this acts like a huge duvet, trapping heat from the sun and slowly raising the temperature of the Earth's climate.

Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have risen by a third since industrial times, and are expected to double in the next hundred years.

This build up of CO2 is caused by almost everything we do - driving, flying, heating our homes, and even boiling the kettle. And as the use of technology increases around the world, there will be a corresponding rise in the demand for energy. In fact, world energy use is forecast to increase fourfold by 2050.

The aim of the Kyoto Protocol was to get governments around the world to reduce greenhouse gas levels by agreeing to cut emissions by 5.2%. That's like driving toward a brick wall at 100 miles per hour and slowing to 95mph - it's a start, but it's not enough. To stabilise the Earth's climate, the International Panel for Climate Change has estimated that we need to reduce emissions to 40% of 1990 levels (Ref. 1).

You can make a difference

Unfortunately, governments can be slow. However individuals and businesses can start to make a difference right now by doing something about their CO2 emissions - cutting them down, reabsorbing them or offsetting them.

Reproduced by kind permission of Future Forests

All you ever wanted to know about Tropical Rainforests but were afraid to ask

Tropical rainforests are a world like none other; and their importance to the global ecosystem and human existence is unequivocal. Unparalleled in terms of their untold biological diversity, tropical rainforests are a natural reservoir of genetic diversity which offers a rich source of medicinal plants, high yield foods, and a myriad of other useful forest products. They are an important habitat for migratory animals and sustain as much as 50% of the species on Earth and a multitude of unique indigenous cultures. Tropical rainforests play an elemental role in regulating global weather in addition to maintaining regular rainfall, while buffering against floods, droughts, and erosion. They store vast quantities of carbon, while producing a significant amount of the world's oxygen.

Despite their monumental role, tropical forests are restricted to the small land area between the latitudes 22.5° North and 22.5° South of the equator, or in other words, between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. Since the majority of Earth's land is located north of the tropics, rainforests are naturally limited to a relatively small area.

Tropical rainforests, like so many other natural places, are a scarce resource as we enter the twenty-first century. The vast swaths of forest, swamp, desert, and savanna that carpeted Earth's land surface a mere five generations ago have been reduced to scattered fragments; today, more than two-thirds of the world's tropical rainforests exist as fragmented remnants. Just a few thousand years ago, tropical rainforests covered as much as 12% of the land surface on earth, or about 6 million square miles (15.5 million square km), but today less than 5.3% of Earth's land is covered with these forests (about 2.6 million square miles). The largest unbroken stretch of rainforest is found in the Amazon River basin of South America. Over half of this forest lies in Brazil, which holds about one-third of the world's remaining tropical rainforests. Another 20% of the world's remaining rainforest exists in Indonesia and Congo Basin, while the balance of the world's rainforests are scattered around the globe in tropical regions.

The global distribution of tropical rainforests can be broken up into four biogeographical realms based roughly on four forested continental regions:

Ethiopian or Afro-tropical

Australasian or Australian

Oriental or Indomalayan/Asian

Neo-tropical.

 

Structure And Character

Tropical rainforests across the world are quite diverse, but share several defining characteristics including climate, precipitation, canopy structure, complex symbiotic relationships, and diversity of species. Every rainforest does not necessarily conform to these characteristics and most tropical rainforests do not have clear boundaries, but may blend with adjoining mangrove forest, moist forest, mountain forest, or tropical deciduous forest.

 

Geography And Climate

Tropical rainforests lie in the "tropics," between the Tropic of Capricorn and Tropic of Cancer. In this region sunlight strikes earth at roughly a 90 degree angle resulting in intense solar energy (solar energy diminishes as you move farther equator) from the consistent day length on the equator: 12 hours a day, 365 days per year (regions away from the equator have days of varying length). This consistent sunlight provides the essential energy necessary to power the forest via photosynthesis.

Because of the ample solar energy, tropical rainforests are usually warm year round with temperatures from about 72-93F (22-34C), although forests at higher elevations, especially cloud forests, may be significantly cooler. The temperature may fluctuate during the year, but in some equatorial forests the average may only vary as little as 0.5F (0.3C) throughout the year. Cloud cover and high humidity generally moderates the temperatures.

 

Precipitation

An important characteristic of rainforests is apparent in their name. Rainforests lie in the inter-tropical convergence zone where intense solar energy produces a convection zone of rising air that loses its moisture through frequent rainstorms. Rainforests are subject to heavy rainfall, at least 80", and in some areas over 430" of rain each year. (For reference sake, 430" is almost 36 feet of rain every year). In equatorial regions, rainfall may be year round without apparent "wet" or "dry" seasons, although many forests do have seasonal rains. Even in seasonal forests, the period between rains is usually not long enough for the leaf litter to dry out completely. During the parts of the year when less rain falls, the constant cloud cover is enough to keep the air moist and prevent plants from drying out. Neo-tropical rainforests rarely go a month during the year without at least 6" of rain. The stable climate, with evenly spread rainfall and warmth, allows most rainforest trees to be evergreen - keeping their leaves all year and never dropping all their leaves in any one season.

Forests further from the equator, like those of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Central America, where rainy seasons are more pronounced, can only be considered "semi-evergreen" since some species of trees may shed all of their leaves at the beginning of the dry season. Annual rainfall is spread evenly enough to allow heavy growth of broad-leafed evergreen trees, or at least semi-evergreen trees.

The moisture of the rainforest from rainfall, constant cloud cover, and transpiration (water loss through leaves), creates intense local humidity. Each canopy tree transpires some 200 gallons of water annually, translating to roughly 20,000 gallons (76,000 L) of water transpired into the atmosphere for every acre of canopy trees. Large rainforests (and their humidity) contribute to the formation of rain clouds, and generate as much as 75% of their own rain. The Amazon rainforest is responsible for creating as much as 50% of its own precipitation.

Rainforest Diversity - Origins And Implications

Tropical rainforests support the greatest diversity of living organisms on Earth. Although they cover less than 2% of Earth's surface, they house 50 percent of all life on the planet. The immense numbers of creatures that inhabit the tropical rainforests are so great - an estimated 5-50 million species - they are almost incomprehensible. The sheer range of numbers alone suggests the limited extent of our knowledge. For example, whereas temperate forests are often dominated by a half dozen tree species or less that make up 90% of the trees in the forest, a tropical rainforest may have more than 480 tree species in a single hectare (2.5 acres). A single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the entire British Isles. This diversity of rainforests is not a haphazard event, but is the result of a series of unique circumstances.

The Canopy

An estimated 70-90% of life in the rainforest exists in the trees, above the shaded forest floor. Primary tropical rainforest is vertically divided into at least five layers: the overstory, the canopy, the understory, the shrub layer, and the forest floor. Each layer has its own unique plant and animal species interacting with the ecosystem around them. The overstory refers to the crowns of emergent trees, which soar 20-100 feet above the rest of the canopy. The canopy is the dense ceiling of closely spaced trees and their branches, while the understory is the term for more widely spaced, smaller tree species and juvenile individuals that form a broken layer below the canopy. Shrubby species and juvenile trees that grow only 5-20 feet off the forest floor characterise the shrub layer. The forest floor is the ground layer of the forest made up of the trunks of trees, fungus, and low growing vegetation. These layers are not always distinct and can vary from forest to forest, but serve as good model of the vegetative and mechanical structures of the forest.

The overstory is characterised by scattered emergent trees that tower above the rest of the canopy, the tops of some species exceeding 210 feet (65 m). Below the overstory trees, the canopy stretch for vast distances, seemingly unbroken when observed from an airplane above. However, despite overlapping tree branches, canopy trees rarely interlock or even touch. Instead a few feet separate them from one another. Why the branches of these trees do not touch is still a mystery, but it is thought that it might serve as protection from infestations from tree-eating caterpillars and tree diseases like leaf blight. To survive, canopy dwellers must have the ability to negotiate these gaps by climbing, leaping, gliding, or flying.

The billions of leaves of the canopy, acting as miniature solar panels, provide the source of power for the forest by converting sunlight to energy through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert atmospheric carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and simple sugars. Since the rate of photosynthesis of canopy trees is so high, these plants have a higher yield of fruits, seeds, flowers, and leaves which attract and support a wide diversity of animal life. Besides attracting a broad array of wildlife, the canopy plays an important role in regulating regional and global climate because it is the principle site of the interchange of heat, water vapor, and atmospheric gases. In addition to collecting solar energy and regulating the climate, the canopy shields the understory from harsh and intense sunlight, drying winds, and heavy rainfall, and retains the moisture of the forest below. Thus the forest interior is a far less volatile environment than the upper parts of the canopy ceiling. The interior region is protected from the extremes of the canopy: temperature fluctuations, damaging solar radiation, and strong winds. Light levels are diffuse and subdued, the humidity is higher and more constant, and there is very little direct sunlight in the lower canopy.

The Forest Floor

The forest floor of primary tropical rainforest is rarely the thick, tangled jungle of movies and adventure stories. It is actually quite the opposite: the floor is relatively clear of vegetation due to the deep darkness created by perhaps 100 feet (30 m) of canopy vegetation above. The canopy not only blocks out sunlight, but dampers wind and rain. A visitor to the rainforest during a rainstorm will usually not immediately feel falling rain because so much is deflected and collected by various canopy plants. The blocking of wind by the canopy makes the forest floor a calm place where only the slightest breeze blows during tropical thunderstorms. When hiking in primary tropical rainforest a flashlight may be more useful than a machete since the subdued lighting limits ground growth. Instead of choking vegetation, a visitor will find large tree trunks, interspersed hanging vines and lianas, and countless seedlings and saplings and a relatively small number of ground plants.

The term "jungle" is frequently applied to forest areas having dense ground growth. Such "jungle" is characteristic of disturbed forest: usually near the forest edges, in recently opened light gaps, riverbanks, and areas where the forest is reclaiming previously cleared land. Vigorous ground growth is only possible where plenty of light is available - where there is a break or thinning in the light-absorbing canopy which screens out all but the 0.5-5% of light that reaches the floor in the primary forest.

 

Characteristics

Despite its constant shade, the ground floor of the rainforest is the site for important interactions and complex relationships. The forest floor is one of the principle sites of decomposition, a process paramount for the continuance of the forest as a whole. It is also home to thousands of plants and animals, and provides support for trees responsible for the formation of the canopy. The ground level is the region of the forest which was first explored and has been the most intensively studied.

Rainforest Waters

Tropical rainforests have some of the largest rivers in the world like the Amazon, Madeira, MeKong, Negro, Orinoco, and Zaire ( Congo), because of the tremendous amount of precipitation their watersheds receive. Countless smaller tributaries, streams, and creeks feed these mega-rivers. For example, the Amazon alone has some 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are over 1000 miles long. Although large tropical rivers are fairly uniform in appearance and water composition, their tributaries vary greatly. Many tropical rivers and streams have extreme high and low water levels that occur at different parts of the year.

In addition to rivers, rainforests have conventional, freestanding lakes and so-called oxbow lakes, formed when a river changes course. These lakes are home to species adapted to the quiet, stagnate conditions.

Tropical waters, whether they are giant rivers, streams, or oxbow lakes, are almost as rich in animal species as the rainforests that surround them. However, they too, are increasingly threatened by human activities, including pollution, siltation resulting from deforestation, hydroelectric projects, and over-harvesting of resident species.

Forest Peoples

Tropical rainforests have long been home to indigenous peoples who have shaped civilisations and cultures based on the environment in which they live. Great civilisations like the Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs developed complex societies and made great contributions to science. Living from nature and lacking the technology to dominate their environment, native peoples have learned to watch their surroundings and understand the intricacies of the rainforest. Over generations these people have learned the importance of living within their environment and come to rely on the countless renewable benefits that forests can provide.

A World Imperiled: Forces Behind Forest Loss

As previously described, tropical rainforests are incredibly rich ecosystems that play a fundamental role in the basic functioning of the planet. Rainforests are home to at least 50% of the world's species, making them an extensive library of biological and genetic resources. In addition, rainforests help maintain the climate by regulating atmospheric gases and stabilising rainfall, protect against desertification, and provide numerous other ecological functions.

However, these precious systems are among the most threatened on the planet. Although the precise area is disputed, each day, at least 80,000 acres (32,300 ha) of forest disappear from earth. At least another 80,000 acres (32,300 ha) of forest are degraded. Along with them, the planet loses as many as several hundred species to extinction, the vast majority of which have never been documented by science (species loss depends on the number of species on earth. If there are 30 million species, many more disappear daily than if there are only 5 million species). As these forests fall, more carbon is added to the atmosphere, climactic conditions are further altered, and more topsoil is lost to erosion. Worse, is that deforestation is not slowing, but increasing at an accelerated rate. During the 1980s the deforestation rate increased by 90% and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon reached record proportions in 1995.

Consequences Of Deforestation

People may wonder why we should care about deforestation of the rainforests. What is the difference if a few plants, animals, mushrooms, and microorganisms perish? For most people, the forests are not all that pleasant to visit: they are hot and humid, difficult to reach, insect ridden, and have wildlife that is relatively hard to see. Actually the concern should not be about losing a few plants and animals. Humanity will lose much more: by destroying the tropical forests we risk our own quality of life, the stability of the planet, the existence of other species that share our rights to life, and the valuable services provided by biological diversity.

While in most areas environmental degradation has yet to reach a crisis levels where entire systems are collapsing, it is important to examine some of the effects of existing environmental impoverishment and to forecast some of the potential repercussions of forest loss. Continuing loss of natural systems could make human activities increasingly vulnerable to ecological surprises.

The consequences of deforestation can be broken down into local and global sectors, with some overlap. The most immediate consequences from deforestation are evident on the local level, while many of the global consequences can only be speculated upon in the long term

Solutions

Today tropical rainforests are disappearing from the face of the globe. Despite growing international concern, rainforests continue to be destroyed at a pace exceeding 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) per day. World rainforest cover now stands at around 2.5 million square miles (6 million square kilometers), an area about the size of the contiguous 48 United States or Australia and representing around 5% of the world's land surface. Much of this remaining area has been impacted by human activities and no longer retains its full original biodiversity.

 

Three Steps to Saving Rainforests

1. Sustainable development of some standing forest

2. Rehabilitation and increasing productivity of once forested lands

3. Establishment of protected areas

Deforestation of tropical rainforests has a global impact through species extinction, the loss of renewable resources, and the reduction of carbon sinks. However, this destruction can be slowed, stopped, and in some cases even reversed. Most people agree that the problem must be remedied, but the means are not as simple as fortifying fences around the remaining rainforests or banning the timber trade.

In that case, what should be done? The answer must be based on what is feasible, not idealistic, and depends on developing a new conservation policy built on the principle of sustainable use and development of rainforests.

Previous approaches to rainforest conservation have failed as demonstrated by accelerated rate of deforestation. These methods consisted of closing off forests as untouchable parks and reserves, using guards and fences to secure park boundaries. As parks around the world were "established," rainforest still fell at a faster rate than ever. Where parks were officially sanctioned, they were often not funded sufficiently and lacked the local support to be maintained. As a result, many of these parks today are "paper parks," parks that appear on maps and official government conservation reports, but do not exist in practice. These "paper parks" may be used as for commercial activities like logging, oil extracting, cattle ranching, and mining as a source of revenue for impoverished or corrupt governments; or by colonists seeking land for subsistence cultivation and fuel wood collection.

This traditional park approach can be shortsighted because people living around these forests are often among the worlds poorest and depend on the forest for many of their daily needs. Designating an area, as a park does not mean the people in the area will have their immediate needs satisfied. A park does not alleviate their hunger, or satiate their requirements for shelter and other necessities. Local inhabitants depend on the rainforest for their survival and until other means become available, will continue to use the forest for immediate gratification in a non-renewable fashion.

In the earlier days of conservation reserves were often created without the consent of the local peoples living in and around the park. In these cases, the government that created the park put itself at odds with the local people who did not understand why they could no longer carry on with their everyday practices. Offered no alternatives, locals continued their activities irrespective of the park's boundaries. The government quickly found that laws alone would not stop deforestation. Conservation cannot come at the expense of local people; local people must be made both partners and beneficiaries in conservation, and not enemies of it.

Today those involved in conservation realise these shortcomings and place emphasis on sustainable development of rainforest lands, to allow local people to benefit from the forests on an ongoing basis without destroying them. Success depends largely on long term planning, cooperation , and informed compromise among environmentalists, scientists, industry, developers, politicians, local people and indigenous groups so reserves will have continuing support. Saving rainforests will hinge on how protected areas are worked into the local fabric of life and how well, as intact systems, the forest can provide for the people that live around them. If managed properly, the rainforests can provide for many of the world's needs on a perpetual basis.

It is essential that solutions be adapted for the circumstances and specific problems unique to each region. While promoting community-based sustainable agro-forestry might work in Equatorial Guinea, it might fail miserably in Brazil where land policy and tax reform might be more appropriate. Local conditions are of paramount importance in conservation.

There is no use bemoaning past deforestation of large areas of forest. Today the concern is how to best utilise lands already cleared so they support productive activities today and for future generations. Without improving the well being of people living in and around forests, we cannot expect rainforests to persist as fully functional systems and continue to cater to the needs of our children.