Friday, April 28, 2006
Fuelwood crisis
I just came home to Lac-Etchemin, Québec, yesterday, and knew it as I was leaving Toronto's streets, which are saturated with cell phones ads. I must say I was shocked to see how these differed from Montréal's streets, who are filled with posters about the National Library, the African Drumming Festival and the Week for International Solidarity... How different is that from culture shock? :)
Speaking thereof, coming home means coming back to good old wood heating. This form of energy seems to have went down in popularity, maybe because it just takes two week-ends to split and cord all the firewood. And it makes a mess. And your back aches. (This is a post for those who aren't from the countryside by the way!)
I always wondered why my parents never switched to fossil fuels for heating. I don't think it really is because of neither environmental or sustainability reasons. It also made me think that some people need to walk several miles to get their fuelwood, and here we just have a range of options for house heating with price tags.
My grand-father is 84 years old and he still goes in the forest every day. I don't think I inherited his passion, but despite my despicable mark in forestry, the other day I had a reflexion about plantations. The guy next door has a pine plantation, which is probably especially great during Christmas time. I was thinking since it does not produce leaves of any sort, then it's branches can not really be used for fodder, and clearly I could not see any other benefits to this establishment than the socio-economic ones. No agroforestry in sight, no protected areas either.
Then I realized that my dad put pine branches on the grass just over where the water pipe lays. It seems like this creates an isolation that keeps the cold from freezing our water supply during the winter... All in all, wood here is much more used for climatic reasons than for cooking, but it is still liked to well-being and survival, hey?
Speaking thereof, coming home means coming back to good old wood heating. This form of energy seems to have went down in popularity, maybe because it just takes two week-ends to split and cord all the firewood. And it makes a mess. And your back aches. (This is a post for those who aren't from the countryside by the way!)
I always wondered why my parents never switched to fossil fuels for heating. I don't think it really is because of neither environmental or sustainability reasons. It also made me think that some people need to walk several miles to get their fuelwood, and here we just have a range of options for house heating with price tags.
My grand-father is 84 years old and he still goes in the forest every day. I don't think I inherited his passion, but despite my despicable mark in forestry, the other day I had a reflexion about plantations. The guy next door has a pine plantation, which is probably especially great during Christmas time. I was thinking since it does not produce leaves of any sort, then it's branches can not really be used for fodder, and clearly I could not see any other benefits to this establishment than the socio-economic ones. No agroforestry in sight, no protected areas either.
Then I realized that my dad put pine branches on the grass just over where the water pipe lays. It seems like this creates an isolation that keeps the cold from freezing our water supply during the winter... All in all, wood here is much more used for climatic reasons than for cooking, but it is still liked to well-being and survival, hey?
