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Let’s Talk About the Good and Bad About the Year of the Wood Snake

As the Chinese New Year of the Wood Snake gets underway on 29 January 2025, Ken Hickson reflects on what this could mean for us all, particularly those of us who value trees and need to know how to make best use of wood.


Thu 30 Jan 25

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What’s so good – or bad – about the Year of the Wood Snake?

Having lived through the influences of all 12 Chinese (or Lunar) New Year animals more than once while working in Singapore over the past 40+ years, I’m prepared to admit to having a certain amount of knowledge on the subject.

Not that I religiously follow all the signs and predictions of horoscopes and astrology, but we are allowed to pick and choose what appeals to us.

For example, the South China Morning Post states that “we are entering into a year of death and rebirth, a year to make responsible decisions to evolve spiritually, moving away from old ways and habits that no longer serve us well.”

That makes sense to me.

We also learn that the wood snake is “best equipped due to its magnetic resonance to hear the heartbeat of Mother Earth.”

In 2025, the strongest wealth element is Fire, so industries relating to water, wood and fire will thrive, while industry related to the elements of earth and metal may suffer from weak support.

Believe it or not, favourable industries that will benefit from the Wood Snake’s energy in 2025 include banking, tourism, shipping, consulting, fine arts and culture, engineering, healthcare, and food and beverage.

On top of that industries which benefit from “a good sense of (Snake) timing, strategy and focus” include agriculture and construction!

Happy Chinese New Year 2025 Vector Illustration. Translation: Year of the Wood Snake, featuring Snakes, and Traditional Chinese Elements in Background

What all this might mean to us humble mortals is that there is no need to exhaust your energy: “Adopt the nature of the Snake with awareness and a greater sense of timing” and be ready to strike when the time is right “to maximise the energy of the year”.

To me, this points to the Year of the Wood Snake being a good time for all of us to focus on forests, to care more about trees, and to teach us to put a greater value on timber and related wood products.

Let’s examine a few topical issues and opportunities:

Forest Fires

Victoria and California have already been hit hard this year by devastating forest fires. We hear about the loss of life and property, but how much do we know about the serious loss of trees? Burnt to a cinder.  It’s worrying that Australia is among the top five countries with the biggest annual average loss of tree cover by fires worldwide from 2001 to 2023. See more from Statista here.

Depositphotos 531934366 XL fotor 20241228205441 (1)

Not much we can do, I suppose, to stop the fires and/or reduce the amount of forest which goes up in flames?

Hang on! The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) says we can do a better job of forest management to reduce tree cover loss from fires: “Most forest fires are started by people, but forest management can help avoid them. In recent years, there has been a stark increase in uncontrolled forest fires, both in frequency and intensity. Persistent hotter and drier weather due to climate change, and other human factors such as land conversion for agriculture and poor forest management are the main drivers behind this increase.”

“Forest management practices that can prevent fires include controlling visitor activities, removing trash, and maintaining buffer zones between public roads”. There’s more from FSC here.

Deforestation

The world loses 5 million hectares of forest to deforestation each year. What activities are driving this? According to Our World in Data, agriculture is the leading driver of deforestation globally. Population growth, expansion of urban areas, and increased food consumption have led to many forests being converted into farms. For Australia, most deforestation is driven by the beef industry, not fires or logging.

In 2024, Greenpeace Australia Pacific renewed its focus on combating deforestation to protect “our unique forests for the future and, in turn, save the lives of millions of vulnerable animals and birds.” It also called on key supermarkets and fast food chains to source only beef without bulldozers.

Read what more Australia is doing to stem the tide of deforestation. Here’s what we had in October last year. And Wood Central, in March 2023, ran my story – A new digital platform is being developed to tackle due diligence on deforestation in UK supply chains.

Restoration

We’ve been impressed with the global impact of Restor –  started by Thomas Crowther a few years back – and the One Million Trees project in Australia and elsewhere.  Here’s an update on the project, which seeks “to restore the habitat lost in the bushfires, as well as provide a buffer zone to protect the park from future disasters. This will not only protect the park and its native species, but also the local community and its agricultural activities”.

In The Forest on ABC TV in December 2024, Crowther, the brilliant ecologist, explained why the work of resort was so important everywhere, and it was so important to go beyond planting new trees to do much more to regenerate and protect existing natural and planted forests.

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We also know from the UNDP that:  “Healthy forests play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by acting as carbon sinks, absorbing billions of metric tonnes of CO2 annually. However, they are under threat due to deforestation and degradation. Preserving and restoring forests is essential for achieving the world’s climate goals”.

Urban Heat Island Effect

We need to cool our urban environments, and one ideal way to do this is to ensure that we have enough tree cover to provide shade and absorb the heat from our buildings and roads.

Melbourne, which often experiences heatwaves with temperatures hitting 42 degrees in January, recognizes this and has embarked on tree planting in a big way: “Our goal is to plant 3000 trees in Melbourne every year to increase the resilience of the urban forest and to cool our city by 4°C. Trees and vegetation can cool our cities by providing shade, reflecting sunlight and by releasing moisture into the air through their leaves in a process called transpiration.”

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There’s more here.

Other Australian cities need to get on board, not only by planting more trees, but by resisting the temptation to clear trees for urban development.

Valuing our Trees

We have written before about the work of Greehill in Singapore and Europe to measure the value of trees in urban environments and how we can maintain their “healthy longevity.

Greenhill uses “sensitive equipment” to collects data from every tree which comes into its sights. It produces a computerised 3D model – which Greehill calls “a digital tree” – so they can perform health and safety checks, undertake custom measurements, as well as filter trees based on other important criteria. His data collection process can track 50,000 trees a day.

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All this is essential to gather and retain climate and ecologically relevant data, including the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) stored by each tree. Or even how a park with lots of trees can cool the adjacent area.

Appreciating the trees around us for all they’re worth. That’s the ultimate answer.

Going beyond that – which we will do our best to cover in future articles – is to value wood and other products harvested from our sustainable and certified forests.

We’re seeing a rise in the use of timber in a productive and sustainable fashion around the world and in Australia.

As it’s now the Year of the Wood Snake, let’s make the most of this time – in an election year, too – to value and promote wood for good in more ways than one.

Let’s hear the heartbeat of Mother Earth.

Author

  • Ken Hickson

    Ken Hickson is a journalist/editor/author with 60 years' experience in Media in Asia Pacific, with a strong focus on sustainable forestry, mass engineered timber, and drawing attention to deforestation, illegal logging, and out of control forest fires. He is also a Wood Central Southeast Asia contributor.

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