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Sparks

Canada’s Zombie Forests

How logging has quietly taken its toll on the country’s woodland.

Logging in Canada.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Although Canada has developed a reputation as a responsible steward of its massive — and environmentally crucial — boreal forests, a new study published in the journal Land calls that reputation into question. The analysis, by researchers at Australia’s Griffith University, found that 35.4 million acres of the country’s evergreen forests in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec have been effectively lost to logging since 1976. The government-approved methods used to regenerate those forests — which require loggers to replant cleared areas or show that the region will recover on its own — have had a devastating result, as similar practices have had in many other parts of the world.

Logging in Canada's boreal forest.Overview of logged forest within the study area from 1976 to 2020.Climate Action Beacon, Griffith University

While 56 million acres of older trees remain across the two provinces, that acreage is now interspersed with patchworks of newly planted trees chosen for their future suitability for logging, not for purposes of ecological diversity or wildfire prevention. “The Canadian government claims to have managed the forest according to the principles of sustainable forest management,” Brendan Mackey, the study’s lead author, toldThe New York Times. “But its notion of sustainability is really tied to maintaining and maximizing wood production and ensuring the regeneration of commercially desirable trees. That has a lot of implications for biodiversity.”

Canada’s forest managers say that “At 0.02% of its forested area, [the rate of] deforestation in Canada is among the world’s lowest,” which sounds impressive until this caveat: “an area with very young trees is still a forest. The term ‘deforestation’ refers to land that has been cleared of trees and permanently converted to another use.” It’s a bit like claiming that a zombie is a healthy, normal person, simply because it seems to be alive. So while Canada may not have widespread deforestation, what it does have are swaths of newer trees that are far less effective than their forebears when it comes to carbon capture, species diversity, and wildfire prevention. “Forest degradation is the more important metric for Canada because it really captures more of what’s actually happening,” Peter Wood, of the University of British Columbia, told the Times. “Canada has downplayed the impact of the forest industry.”

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Sparks

Why Are AI Stocks Falling Again?

Microsoft is canceling data center leases, according to a Wall Street analyst.

Microsoft headquarters.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The artificial intelligence industry is experiencing another TD Cowen shock.

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The IRS building.
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Sparks

Rivian Is Spinning Off a New Micromobility Company

It’s called Also.

A bike rider on Rivian headlights.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The electric vehicle company Rivian is known for products that are, well, large: pickup trucks, SUVs, and delivery vans. But for the past three years, it has been stealthily designing the technology platform for a slew of much smaller, yet-to-be-revealed electric vehicles — think bikes, scooters, and golf carts. Today, Rivian officially spun off that project into its own company, called Also, while … also … announcing that the new venture had raised a $105 million Series B funding round.

The name Also, the company’s CEO Chris Yu told me, points to the idea that owning a car and owning a smaller EV are not mutually exclusive — rather, it’s about finding the right tool for the job. “If I’m taking my family to Yosemite on the weekend, I want to use my Rivian R1S, but for my daily school runs, probably not. That’s not the most efficient or enjoyable way to do it,” Yu told me. In the U.S. about 80% of all car trips are 15 miles or less, and over 50% of are less than six miles. The goal of Also, Yu said, is for smaller EV’s — or “micromobility solutions” — to replace cars for those shorter daily excursions.

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