Ed Ring

Compared to the worldwide value of commodities, stocks are nothing. Consider the underutilized "Earth Market," the trading of values which in aggregate are as vast as the earth itself. Consider tradeable rights to emit pollution, to mine ore, to take stocks of fisheries; financial futures pegged to the value of specific forests, forest index futures, forest derivatives. The Earth Market is an unstoppable force. Growing the Earth Market could become a very bright interpretation of capitalism. Enlightened financial killings are to be made, as technology makes production more and more pollution free, and permits to pollute are bought up by conservation groups. Within 20 years there would be no pollution, no overfishing, no overharvesting. Is this just a dream of some right-wing environmentalist? The danger in the dream is that its implementation could be just as totalitarian as...

Compared to the worldwide value of commodities, stocks are nothing. Consider the underutilized "Earth Market," the trading of values which in aggregate are as vast as the earth itself. Consider tradeable rights to emit pollution, to mine ore, to take stocks of fisheries; financial futures pegged to the value of specific forests, forest index futures, forest derivatives. The Earth Market is an unstoppable force. Growing the Earth Market could become a very a bright interpretation of capitalism. Enlightened financial killings are to be made, as technology makes production more and more pollution free, and permits to pollute are bought up by conservation groups. Within 20 years there would be no pollution, no overfishing, no overharvesting. Is this just a dream of some right-wing environmentalist? The danger in the dream is that its implementation could be just as totalitarian as the...

Paleontology. A sense of cyclicity, a hyperopic perspective. A perspective from which to speculate about mass extinctions. Side by side with the long boom, the mass extinction? There have been plenty of mass extinctions before, at least half a dozen big ones in the last 600 million years, where anywhere from one-third to nearly all of the earth's then existing species were lost. What makes species become extinct? Five key factors: (1) habitat destruction, (2) habitat fragmentation, (3) overkill, i.e., over-hunting and over-harvesting, (4) invasive species, and (5) cascading effects. Of these, invasive species appears poised to be the biggest contributor to the imminent a die-out of somewhere between 35% and 95% of the earth's current biological diversity. Why are invasive species, weedy species, taking over the ecosystems of the planet, and killing everything in their path?...

There is a lot of talk of the Y2K problem, that is, "The Year 2000 Bug," which, as we approach January 1st, 2000, will render a significant portion of the computers and computer networks of the planet paralysed. A recent issue of the prestigious international magazine "The Economist" featured on the cover a cartoon of planet earth melting like a ball of wax. The message was clear, at the dawn of a millenium, the editors of the Economist fear not only a computer bug, but a broader economic meltdown that The Year 2000 Bug will only exacerbate. At a moment perhaps not as precise as 11:59 PM, December 31st, 1999, our real Y2K problem will be not on the microchip but on the entire planet: Global economic meltdown, global economic restructuring; something not malthusian, but something as inevitable as the seasons. Let´s figure out how to hedge. When sustainability becomes not an ideology...

In the hills of central Honduras, about 20 miles west of Tegucigalpa, there lies an abandoned city. It sits along the eastern bank of the Guacerique river, mile after mile of concrete row houses and narrow dirt lanes. They stretch along the flat lands from the river bank up to the bluffs that run out from the surrounding mountains. The river runs along the length of the city, the surrounding lands are fertile, but the city is without life. Even in broad daylight, the city is so still that the birds alight for hours to sun themselves on the rooftops, and wild animals take shelter in the shells of the empty homes. This city that could house 50,000 people, lies empty because nobody thought of what to do with the sewage that the city dwellers would produce. Nobody could come up with a good way to treat the sewage before it polluted the river water and groundwater, the same water that...

Whatever else, at its best religion can be the savior of humankind, providing the motive, the means, and through adherence to a faith, a united mass of humanity to solve the problems of humankind. Surprisingly, in Latin America, it seems to be the Catholic Church, bolstered with the conviction of thousands of Central American martyrs, that has become the torch-bearer for environmentally enlightened religion. But just as the reformist priests gathered an irresistible momentum, civil war decimated their ranks, and into the gaps stepped fanatical right-wing evangelical missionaries from the U.S. The race is on, between the ineluctable reforming of Catholic doctrine, and the...

We hear a lot about the notion of sustainable forestry, a fine idea, though often misconstrued. Any good capitalist should love sustainable forestry, since such a practice guarantees perpetual profits. But the word "sustainable," at least among our right-wing brethren, seems be regarded as a code word for government intervention, socialism, central planning; a real nightmare. These connotations are false. The real meaning of the word sustainable is perpetual profit. One of the reasons that reforestation is taking so long is because it is a process largely driven by charity funds instead of investment funds. If deforested lands aren't immediately viable candidates for monocultural plantations, the traditional capitalist investors stay out, and the lands remain empty of trees. What if capitalism were harnessed (instead of feared) by people who believe in reforesting the earth? What if...

There was lots of heat here recently for asking not if, but when and how the downward adjustment in stock multiples will occur. No, they laughed, though they laughed a bit too loud. Of course the bulls will roar this way forever! Lots of those taken aback were professional investors who ought to know better. But anyone who manages forest inventory does know better. When you live in the forest, you feel many seasons when you behold the various trees. Looking at rings in the stumps, you see abundance and drought in cycles that mock the human span. When you live in the forest, you know with absolute certainty that out there in the economy, the bears always come back. Regardless of whether or not we live in a season of Bulls or Bears, micro-enterprises such as profitable agro-forestry plantations will not replace global integration and massive economies of scale, they will...

After the roar of the bull, how would an economic collapse affect planting trees? When underlying values of investments are fragile, built on unprecedented and self-generating demand and on expectations of never-slowing growth, even a small shock will topple the house of cards. Experts don´t even know whether to fear inflation or deflation, and just like with global warming precipitating an ice age, we could have both, someday. The global economy is relying on plummeting costs of manufactured goods to fuel a rise in stock values. Costs are in free fall, in turn, because of amazing new technologies. But when the biggest global economic locomotive of all, the USA, has 30% of its driving population using money they borrowed to command the highways inside absurdly expensive steel behemoths that get gas mileage scarcely better than... a locomotive, an economic hiccough is as nearby and...

Who says you have to buy big expensive trees? Hardly anyone can afford a forest that way. At the George Zappettini Tree Farm in Tuolumne, California, for just $56.00 give or take a quarter, you can be the proud owner of 100 Cottonwood Trees. Not just any Cottonwood Trees, either. These 12" sprouts will grow to 8´ in one year, and to 60 feet tall with a 60 foot diameter crown in twenty short years. It´s a cross between a California Black Cottonwood and an Eastern Cottonwood, two truly fine species, both tall, broad, and fast growing. For windbreaks and for firewood (in a reburner low emission fireplace, of course), this Populus Americanus is an excellent tree. But what about the streams that empty into the cleaner than ever San Francisco Bay, flush with rainwater and Salmon? What about those choke points where the water temperature is too hot for too long a course? Don´t they cry for...