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Creating a climate smart lumber industry

South Carolina Business Review
SC Public Radio

Timber is big business in our state and, in fact, is our largest cash crop. But as most people are aware, trees are also a big part of the climate change equation. Which is why our next guest is leading an effort to create a climate smart lumber industry. Mike Switzer interviews Rob Baldwin, a professor and the Margaret H. Lloyd Endowed Chair of Conservation in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation at Clemson University.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.