Deforestation In EU Worsens As Green Agenda Sends Energy Prices Soaring
Skyrocketing fossil fuel energy prices are driving the deforestation of Europe as citizens try to keep warm.
It’s easy to argue that the “green” movement is causing much more environmental harm than good.
High energy costs are leading to poverty, which in turn leads to less investment in environmental protection and nature conservation.
Biodiversity-rich forests are being cleared away to make room for wind parks and people are increasingly burning wood to stay warm as an alternative to natural gas and heating oil.
Blackout News here reports on how forests in Romania have been falling victim to illegal logging as the energy crisis has propelled the demand for firewood and pellets to rocket speed. “In Romania, entire nature reserves are disappearing as a result.”
“The sharp increase in demand for firewood, wood chips, and pellets has also caused prices for these fuels to rise sharply, making them extremely lucrative for the illegal trade,” writes Blackout News. A lack of transparency and traceability is making the problem impossible to manage.
Blackout News cites a 2021 European Commission study showing Europe’s wood industry lacks transparency and that the demand for wood for heating has more than doubled in the past twenty years.
Austria alone is reported to have imported approximately 120,000 tons of pellets from Romania last year.
Europe’s CO2 reductions through the burning of biomass are costing its biotope dearly. Few are talking about this. What good will reaching zero CO2 emissions be if Europe’s forests end up being sacrificed and barren?
Greenpeace Romania says illegal logging is particularly bad in Romania and that more than half of the wood processed into pellets there comes from illegal logging in Natura 2000 areas.
While authorities record an annual logging volume of 18 million cubic meters, “experts assume that another 20 million cubic meters of wood are illegally felled there each year and disappear without any evidence.”
One problem hindering the crackdown on illegal logging in Romania is rampant corruption in control bodies and government agencies. Penalties for the import of illegally logged timber “are also shockingly low”.
As long as Europe continues its efforts to eliminate ‘fossil fuels’ and create energy shortages, prices will skyrocket and keep boosting the demand for wood as a source of energy.
See more here climatechangedispatch
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Howdy
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Even if forest clearance to ‘help the planet become greener’ by creating building space for EV doesn’t do enough, wood has been a fuel for power generation for some time already, surely to reduce trees and attempt an increase in C02. Even tyres are burnt to help green wood combust. Better that people keep warm with it than pulverize the wood as mulch to hide the evidence.
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T. C. Clark
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Wood is a terrible way to heat a home ….wood must be ordered cut or you have to cut it…must be stored where rain and bugs and vermin can’t have at it…ashes must be disposed of….some heat goes up the chimney…..attending the fire means some smoke and particles will escape in the home…natural gas furnace much better…..just set the thermostat and forgetaboutit.
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monkey*poops
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true that, T.C.Clark
but, wood is now, and always has been, the only truly independent source of energy.
all other sources you need provider, that is regulated by government… we will have an interesting winter in europe very soon…
of course it’s a mater of time when they will attack wood burning. probably when social credit system is in place: behave or you’ll freeze to death!
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VOWG
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It is “renewable” if it is planted and harvested properly. It is about the only renewable source of energy out there. Cow dung anyone?
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VOWG
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When people are cold and hungry they will cut down every damn tree in the country.
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