Sum4all and Crazytrade both recognized the use of lame rhetoric (more like thinly veiled lies really) that is found in the Toronto Star article posted by Babjak. Thanks to Babjak by the way for all of the very informative posts. The article is a perfect example of the use of rhetoric and the misuse of context that appears in virtually every press release given by environmental activists. They commonly use these dubious tools to try to win people over to their cause, whatever it may be.
The following gem appears in the article "…The monstrously tall, old-growth cedar and spruce trees found (in the boreal forest that stretches from the Manitoba border to James Bay and Quebec) are referred to as the ‘lungs of the earth’ for their ability to trap carbon gas emissions. " Unless much has changed since I last looked (less than a week ago), very little of this statement reflects actual qualities of the boreal forest when all is taken in its proper context.
First of all, the part about monstrously tall, old-growth cedar and spruce sounds like it came right out of an old article about BC's west coast rain forest. In the boreal forest that I know, the only cedar we have is Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis). This would never qualify as monstrously tall as it has only rare incursions above 15 metres in height in the most perfect growing conditions. Normally, it is much shorter and often displays a low, shrublike habit. This is in contrast to the Western Red Cedar in BC which regularly tops 40 to 60 metres in height.
Secondly, the Ring of Fire area is pretty close to the northern limit of the boreal forest in that part of Ontario and it is very rare indeed to find any trees (cedar or either white or black spruce) there that reach any appreciable height. There is a reason that no commercial forestry operations have developed in the area and that is because there is, practically speaking, no commercially viable forest.
Finally, yes, the boreal forest is an excellent carbon storage system. However, it is implied in the statement that the boreal forest will trap carbon gas emissions from fossil fuels. While a tree will indeed trap carbon gas emissions, this mechanism must be understood in its correct context. In the case of a large functional forest ecosystem like the boreal, carbon is cycled in and out of trees in equal amounts. That is to say, when a tree dies in the boreal forest, its carbon is released when it either burns or decays and the hydrocarbon chains from which the wood is made (yes, trees are made largely of naturally produced hydrocarbon chains) are broken and escape into the atmosphere. The new trees that grow in the place of dead ones then recapture the same amount of carbon to build themselves over again. The same amount of carbon is in this way cycled over and over again by the forest ecosystem. If you want trees to actually capture new carbon gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, then you actually have to plant new trees in places where they are not currently growing. You have to have more trees than you have right now or you will only continue to cycle old carbon and the new stuff will simply accumulate in the atmosphere. Context is very important when discussing the carbon cycle.
In reality, the only way to reduce new carbon emissions from fossil fuels is to burn less fossil fuel or to plant new forest where it currently does not exist. Ironically, it is cities like Toronto (much of southern Ontario actually) that have contributed greatly to a loss of carbon storage capacity because it used to be a heavily forested area and now is more of a heavily paved area. The irony is that the bulk of complaints about the environment seem to come from Canada's large urban centres when in fact, they are the finest examples of mass environmental dismantling in the country.
I know that this rambling may not be of interest to some. However, it is important in understanding what arguments are valid or invalid when discussing the environment in the context of Noront Resources specifically and the Ring of Fire in general. As we all know, these false and exagerrated claims will be made in spades as mine development proceeds and so we should all be armed with as much of the truth as we can be. Also, I have been a professional forester and biologist for my entire career and simply cannot allow such things to slide by.
RHammer
