Letters are easy to send, especially if you have a template.
Letter writing is one of the proven ways that you can make a difference. It's old fashioned and boring, but politicians, companies and organisations take more notice of letters than they do of emails. If you write to your local state or federal member you will receive a reply and an acknowledgement. Here's a letter I wrote recently to the Environmental ministers in Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom. These letters are available for everyone to use, or change as they wish.
Dear Minister,Thank you for the leadership role that your country is taking in tackling climate change. Despite the difficulty of conducting negotiations with so many nations at Copenhagen, the determination of [ ] to work on its own environmental issues sets an example for other countries to follow.I am writing to you to ask that you might use your influence to pressure the Australian government into itself making some much needed changes in this area.Australia continues to industrially log its native forests, despite the mounting evidence that deforestation is a major contributor to climate change. Prime Minister Rudd was at the recent Copenhagen Climate Talks, arguing for the world’s nation to make a greater contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while ignoring an important means that is available in his own country. The Australian government is assisting Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to reduce logging their native forests, while presiding over the logging of our own at unsustainable levels.While Australia has enough plantation timber to ensure that no native forest needs to be logged, its native forest trees are sold at rates so low that plantations cannot match them. Most of the logging of Australia’s native forests (85%) is for woodchips, and most of these are exported to Japan. To supply just one chipmill in one state, (Eden Chipmill, New South Wales), 2000 logs are cut down every working day. That is one million tonnes of logs a year for that chipmill alone.Australian Forestry Commissions argue that these logging operations do not increase the GHG in the atmosphere, as CO2 released during logging equals that taken up during growth. This theory might hold in the EU, where the main source of wood is from plantations, but it is not true in Australia. Eucalypt forests recovery for removal of CO2 from the atmosphere on average is 152 years for 90% carrying capacity. While some sources may claim that our native forests are logged on 100 year cycles, the reality is that around 20 year cycles, often less, is the norm. In addition, South Eastern Australian native forests have now been found to be the most carbon dense on record, with the native mountain ash in Victoria storing 1200 - 2000 tonnes of biomass carbon per hectare. Recent research has found that 9.3 billion tonnes of carbon can be stored in the 14.5 million hectares of natural eucalypt forests in south-east Australia alone if they are left undisturbed. [1,2,3] The Forestry agencies in the three Australian states that still industrially log native forests (New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania) sanction the logging and clearfelling of rainforest, old growth and mixed aged forest with relative impunity. The koala, a national icon, is now threatened and is due to be placed on the international list of endangered species. Australia has the worst rate of small mammal extinctions in the world, with 50% of the extinct species [4]. Loss of habitat has been cited as one of the major causes. Many small mammals and birds rely on trees that are at least 100 years old, because these are the only ones that have developed hollows suitable for their habitat and breeding. Despite government regulations prohibiting the logging of all of these hollow forming trees, they are found less and less often in our native forests, because older, larger trees are an expedient source of timber supply. The IPCC now estimates that worldwide the cutting down of forests is contributing close to 20 per cent of the overall greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere. The UN - REDD program is working to decrease deforestation in developing countries. Yet Australia’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme gives the emissions from native forest logging a zero emissions value. There needs to be international recognition that deforestation is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in developed countries like Australia as well as in developing countries. Countries such as [ ] can negotiate with the UN to include emissions from developed countries in its emissions reductions program and I ask that you do this. We look forward to the day when the logging and clearfelling of Australian native forests ends. It can happen much sooner if considerable pressure is applied from the international community. I call upon the government of [ ] to increase the pressure on the Australian Government to end the logging of its native forests. This may mean negotiations, pressure, sanctions or public embarrassment; all options need to be considered. Governments such as yours can highlight the fact that Australia can no longer claim to be a major contributor to trying to tackle climate change while it ignores the means at its own disposal to do so. I ask that you would bring your considerable influence to bear on this issue, and in doing so, make an even stronger contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.Yours sincerely,[1,2,3[http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/BT9920631.htmhttp://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/why-our-trees-are-greener-than-most-20090616-cf0i.htmlhttp://www.wilderness.org.au/files/GreenCarbonReport-synopsis.pdf[4] http://www.sustainabilitymagazine.com.au/uncategorized/australia-a-major-culprit-in-mass-extinction/
