Sylvicultura Oeconomica

I thought that such a wacky-sounding name for a blog deserved a little bit of explanation.

I named the blog after a book, Sylvicultura oeconomica, oder haußwirthliche Nachricht und Naturmäßige Anweisung zur wilden Baum-Zucht (1713), written by Hans Carl von Carlowitz.

The Wikipedia article on the book is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Carl_von_Carlowitz

Hans Carl von Carlowitz was the first one to clearly formulate the concept of sustainability in forestry. He grew up at a critical time in an area in Germany heavily oriented towards the mining industry. He was a mining administrator in the area of Freiberg Germany (also later generally the birthplace of the gasification technologies used in our plant).

Some have credited him with being one of the first to clearly articulate the concepts of sustainability in the western world.

In the 1700s, forests were being logged and not re-planted. The timber was used to fuel and support the mining and smelting industries.  As timber grew ever scarcer, and had to be transported from greater and greater distances, it became uneconomical, and led to the bankruptcy of some mines, and threatened all industry in the area. The need to procure a sustainable supply of timer became clear.

I find useful conceptual parallels between the situation of that era, and what we are now facing with peak oil. Oil (metaphorically our modern version of timber?) is harder and harder to get, and could bankrupt us. We need to develop an alternative. Though our situation is clearly far more complicated than just planting trees, the transition from using an extractive approach to energy procurement to a sustainable one capable of supporting our industries is not conceptually that different.
Hence, Sylvicultura oeconomica.

The full title of his book loosely translated is: „Sylvicultura Oeconomica, or the economic news and instructions for the natural growing of wild trees, besides thorough explanation how with gods good will the ever stronger scarcity of timber is to be managed by sowing, growing and planting of seedlings, also through wild and planned cultivation of a once cut and barren land can again be made useful as timber land - through the collection of seeds from seed trees, the preparation of soil for sowing and the care of seedlings. Besides, how to multiply the timber harvest at every stage of growth, the types of leavy and needle trees and their seeds, also how to manage foreign kinds of trees, and further how to fell trees and make charcoal or other uses from the wood. To be the best utility for the heating, building, brewing, mining and smelting activities requires the careful management of sustainable forestry resources.“