The Forests + Climate Learning Exchange Series (LES), co-hosted by the Forest Carbon and Climate Program (FCCP) and the Society of American Foresters (SAF), invites academics, practitioners, policymakers, and other experts to present innovative and important research, projects, and strategies relating to forest carbon. The series aims to develop and expand forest stakeholder knowledge and perspectives on forest carbon science, management, and strategy.

Wood is half carbon by dry weight—whether that is in the form of a standing tree, fallen log, or a mass timber building.  The natural carbon storing power of wood is amazing and offers great opportunities for its carbon value proposition. However, attempts to value the carbon benefits of wood in comparison to alternatives and following similar models as fossil-derived materials have made it difficult for the marketplace to get it right. Bottom line, wood is unique but our systems of carbon valuation are too generalized. What might a system look like that fully accounts for the benefits of wood from forests to finished products and back again?

Day and time: April 3, 2024, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (EST)

Speaker

Sandra Lupien, Director of MassTimber@MSU

• Sandra Lupien is the Director of MassTimber@MSU, a program at Michigan State University that harnesses outreach, communications, research, education, policy, and partnerships to advance mass timber construction and manufacture in Michigan and the surrounding region. As of July 1, 2023, Sandra also serves as Interim Director of MSU’s Forest Carbon and Climate Program. Sandra has two decades of diverse policy, communications, external affairs, and leadership experience in the non-profit, public, and private sectors, most of it working at the intersection of climate change, natural resource policy, and equitable and sustainable community development.
• https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/sandra-lupien?roleURL=sandra-lupien?language_id=

Kathryn (Katie) Fernholz, President, Dovetail Partners

• https://www.dovetailinc.org/team.php

To register, visit https://www.canr.msu.edu/events/learning-exchange-series-april-webinar.