Halliday placed his hand atop Silas’ head and guided him to his side as he walked back to the car. He had been listening to the radio chatter on the transmitter inside his ear. There was still no trace of the submersible. He buckled Silas into his seat and they sped off, bits of gravel flinging from the tires, leaving only a cloud of dust behind them as the car met the asphalt.

The world outside began to blur as the trees and buildings rushed by. Halliday was silent as he concentrated on keeping the car on the road as it accelerated. The only words that had come from his mouth were to ask if Silas was okay. Silas wanted to ask what had gone wrong, but he had seen how upset his father had been at the park, so he kept silent. Halliday never said where they were going. Whatever the destination, they were wasting no time in getting there.

“Silas, do you you remember the boat you described to me?” Halliday asked, as he weaved the car from lane to lane, “Would you recognize it if you saw it again?”

“For sure,” Silas answered, “there’s no other like it.”

Hundreds of mariners ventured into Halifax harbour each day. There were days when the water traffic was so high, any vessel that could withstand the constant assault of the open ocean were obliged to remain outside the harbour. They came from all over the world; tourists, adventure seekers, container ships. It was time for Halliday to move among them, to take matters into his own hands. The hunt was on.

I can’t help but notice a certain theme that I seem to step back to in this blog; that being environmental sustainability. It’s an essential topic that will only build in interest as Earth does its best to support all the species upon it.

One of the biggest issues facing our environment is excess CO2 in our atmosphere. While many ideas out there exist on how best to deal with this overabundance of gas, I like it best when an idea comes to light that’s practically “shovel ready.”

Enter ECO2, a company created to deliver large scale sustainable forests in order to help preserve the old growth forests that remain. Ahem, of course they expect to profit from it as well. Its forestry projects are operated under the Global Forestry Plan, an initiative that puts the kiri tree at center stage.

The kiri is a hardwood tree that can capture carbon in excess of five times that of most other trees. After the first season of growth, its leaves can measure a metre in diameter and absorb up to ten times the CO2 as other trees. After 7 years, the tree can reach a height of more than 65 feet. Once harvested, the kiri can start its growing process all over again from the stump left behind. In comparison, trees such as oak or fir (popular in the building industry), can take up to eight decades to reach maturity. With numbers like these, the kiri is poised to be a major player in the carbon sequestration market.

While re-planting trees in the wilds of British Columbia will always be a noble act, the pines that are replaced can take decades to reach maturity. If three kiri trees can grow in the space of time it takes to grow one pine (and remove a small cloud of CO2 in the process), this project needs to be considered in as many parts of the world that have the most basic growing conditions.