“The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) represents the historic floodplain and valley of the lower Mississippi River. The MAV was once a 24.7 million acre complex of forested wetlands interspersed with swamps, cypress-tupelo brakes, scrub-shrub wetlands and emergent wetlands.”
– Ducksunlimited.org
The birthplace of the mass production automobile and subsequently the Big 3 automakers was along the northern tier of the United States, in what we now call the Rust Belt. As more foreign manufacturers have brought production of their cars onto American soil, they have favored the Southern section of the country, particularly the Southeast.
While much of North America was wooded before European settlers arrived, no region has suffered worse deforestation during the last century than the Southeast. One of the healthiest regions of the Southeast used to be the MAV. It still has thriving pockets but mostly has a degraded environment.
Covering portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, the Mississippi Alluvial Valley is a huge area with a major role to play in regulating our climate. Since cars are a major source of damage to the environment, it is fitting that many of the world’s cleanest cars now are being manufactured in and around the MAV.
Now, to bring us more encouraging news, Volkwagen has partnered with CarbonFund.org to create the VW Forest in and near the Tensas River Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Louisiana. This is no mere planting of trees. It is a planned forest with arborists collaborating to maximize the benefits of carbon sequestration and habitat preservation.
Part of the Volkswagen Zero Carbon Project, I would like congratulate the VW leadership for its forward position on reforestation with the VW Forest. Since the automaker’s homeland of Germany also needs extensive reforestation, it is appropriate that some of the wisdom of those efforts is being applied to the United States in general and the Mississippi Alluvial Valley in particular.
This may well be the new meaning of Fahrvergnügen!
Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line
Corbett Kroehler
Ask
a Question or Leave a Comment
(0)
Digg This 
Del.icio.us