Canadians faced with escalating fuel costs, crushing grocery bills and higher rent are understandably less concerned about the environment these days, according to the latest public opinion polls. And predictably, politicians eager for re-election are following the polls in terms of their own priorities.

But the numbers don’t lie. The world is becoming warmer and climate change is real. The consequences go far beyond the recent ferocity of repeated massive forest fires right across Canada.

Given what appears to be a more muted voice in environmental advocacy these days, this is the forestry sector’s moment to present itself as Canada’s strongest champion for the environment because we undeniably have a great story to tell.

Our management practices sustain the forest, there are innate environmental benefits to building with wood versus the less environmentally friendly alternatives, and today, although we have a Prime Minister with a pragmatic approach to governance, Mark Carney now has the power of a majority government and is still a strong advocate for the environment. Just consider the recent launch of the federal government’s new program called, ‘A Force of Nature: Canada’s Strategy To Protect Nature.’

So, this is our moment. The time is ripe for the forestry sector to speak with one, unified voice of how we are a big part of the solution to heal the harm that climate change has brought. That’s because now it is likely that the public will hear our message in the absence of all the nonsensical green washing noise polluting the issue over the past decade—particularly over social media from industries pretending to care.

It is time to forget about the ‘sunny ways’ approach of making the connection between environmental and forestry policy. The previous federal government’s Two Billion Tree Program was a fine idea, but it was without any thought put into how it could actually be accomplished—and this was demonstrated by the fatal misstep at the time of its announcement that Canada had nowhere near the greenhouse capacity to produce the seedlings needed to reach the program’s planting goals. Now we see why it was doomed to fail from the start and has rightly been significantly scaled back. But it is still a good idea that simply needs a refresh, a plan and a stronger results-based focus.

A good starting point for industry to develop its environmental advocacy strategy is to take stock and remind both ourselves and the public of what benefits standing forests and building with wood offer to combat growth in greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming—and how wood products are working and can work even more as biodegradable and sustainable alternatives.

We should revisit past important research and development initiatives as it relates to wood fibre as the feedstock. This includes further commercialization of bio-based nanotechnology from cellulose, expanding the market for mass timber products, exploring afforestation potentially with fast-growing wood species to grow the wood basket while also expanding the forest footprint to achieve greater carbon sequestration, substituting wood pellets for diesel to provide power to northern communities, and rehabilitating landscapes marred by industrial activity.

Probably the strongest argument industry has in support of promoting more wood construction as well as biodegradable, sustainable wood-product alternatives has its foundation in Canada’s sustainable forest management practices. Canada is maintaining its natural forest through aggressive reforestation programs as well as having the highest percentage of certified sustainable forests in the world through third-party auditing.

Not only do Canada’s forests provide environmentally friendly building materials, but regenerating forests also represent natural carbon sinks.

It’s astounding to think of how many billions of dollars of investment are being considered for such unproven practices as carbon dioxide sequestration from Canada’s oil and gas industry, with billions in public funding in support, when trees represent the largest, single natural carbon sequestration tool on the planet—and Canada has the second largest landmass in the world.

Trees, considering both above and below ground biomass components, are about 50 per cent carbon, and as such, are significant natural carbon sinks, according to experts at the Canadian Forest Service (CFS). It seems ridiculous to promote simply storing carbon dioxide in the ground—sort of like putting clay caps on garbage dumps—when money could be spent on reforestation, afforestation, and forest resiliency programs to create more and stronger forests that absorb carbon dioxide and store it, while also creating forests with multiple commercial and environmental benefits. Our industry needs to encourage politicians to take off the blinders and follow the proven science.

Now that the noise has subsided, let’s remind the public and politicians about the environmental benefits of well-managed forests in general and bio-based products in particular. The field is now so much more wide open and desperately looking for a champion to remind us that climate change is here to stay—unless we take action and that forestry can and should be a much bigger part of the solution.