Spirit of the forest.(preservation of British Columbia rainforests and the Spirit Bear)

Sometimes it takes nothing short of a revolution to persuade a giant of industry to change its practices. Yet exactly that kind of change - and maybe a kind of revolution - is taking place now in British Columbia, Canada.

For half a century, clearcutting of forests has been the norm in British Columbia. But that norm is now shifting - in the marketplace, in the boardroom, and in what the public is willing to accept. Just before this issue of Amicus went to press, the CEO of Canadian timber giant MacMillan Bloedel said publicly that the company may stop clearcutting old-growth forests. MacMillan Bloedel was once the biggest logger in Clayoquot Sound, an ancient …