Is it really “green” and “environmentally smart” to use clearcutting methods in forestry? Or is it an outdated, inefficient and heavily carbon-emitting practice that does not belong in a world already struggling with forest fires and a climate crisis? A film on eco forestry and about ecological alternatives to clearcutting.
In spite of the Swedish forestry industry’s advertising campaigns that attempt to cast them in the role of “green heroes”, the sadness in the film’s director’s soul at the sight of a clear cut area is palpable. How is it possible to chop down an entire woods and still use labels such as “environmental care”?
In this film you’ll see a variety of people talk about their relationship with the forest. There’s the hands-on practical advice for ecological alternatives to clearcutting, there’s the scientific evidence of what clearcutting does, there’s the politician using spoken word to convey her message and there’s the front line testimony from a man who lives large parts of the year in the woods.
The starting point is the gut feeling from the filmmaker that clearcutting simply feels wrong. The ending is a beginning; an invitation into seeing the forest as a collaborating partner rather than this “thing” for humans to exploit. How would our view of the forest change if we stopped seeing it merely as an economic resource, and instead as an invitation to an ecological partnership?