Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change • Hacker News Board

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#81

Post by Nasrudith » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:40 PM UTC

easytiger wrote: post #33

oblio wrote: post #8

I wish them luck. I'm a sort of history buff and Ethiopia has an amazing history. It's been a state (in various forms and with different names) for more than 2000 years, in a part of the world where such stability has been scarce. It has its own ancient alphabet. It was the only country in Africa to resist the Scramble for Africa and was only occupied by Italy for less than 10 years (after putting the Italian Army to…

A couple of months ago they weren't even paying their soldiers^. The country is overrun by Islamic Extremists killing and terrorising at will. See the daily news. Africa's population growth is fundamentally destroying any hope they have for stability or progress. People emigrate to informal settlements near major cities in an uncontrollable/unaccountable way destroying delicate balances of resources with only a tiny…

Except living standards are improving in Africa and have been for a while outside actively unstable regions.

Underdeveloped Africa is actually a good but risky place to invest partly because or diminished returns run backwards - smaller investments can get bigger returns but they are more vulnerable to things like economic downturns. And fortunately that also boosts efficiency to sustain the resource needs.

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#82

Post by zapita » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:41 PM UTC

whb07 wrote: post #70

neuronic wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't say it's that stable or that the rest of Africa is instable, especially compared to Europe. It's just that Europe industrialized earlier and got to reap rewards that can only come from most simple needs being met easily. Europe's industrialization as well as other Western countries heavily depended on the exploitation of third world countries in Asia and Africa, especially after WW2. Sweatshops and slave…

You realize that the European powers of 17th and 18th centuries "exploited" the Americas to include the U.S and yet here stands the U.S head and shoulders above these "exploiters".

That's because the U.S. was never decolonized. It just became an independent colonial state, where European settlers and their descendants continued to steal land, kill natives, and import slaves for another hundred years.

That's how the U.S. came to stand "head and shoulders" above European nations: unlimited land and free labor, which yielded almost unlimited wealth, which was all acquired by Europeans.

Today slavery is abolished, and Native American nations are recognized as sovereign entities; but descendants of slaves and Native Americans continue to live in a country where colonial descendants of European settlers hold all the wealth and power, and the history of expropriation and massacre of their ancestors has been whitewashed as quaint folklore.

So if you look at it from the perspective of the colonized people and their descendants, North America has had it even worse than almost anyone.

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#83

Post by orliesaurus » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:41 PM UTC

lmilcin wrote: post #10

Not to discourage, but even reforesting entire land that could possibly be covered in forest will not arrest climate change noticeably. The reason is because forest do not change CO2 levels noticeably, in the long run. The reason is because there is roughly constant amount of carbon in Earths biomass. Planting treas only increases the amonut of biomass by a little bit but has no lasting effect of scrubbing CO2 from a…

This seems like a really well thought out reply: any books on climate change and the way the world is changing that you recommend on this subject ?

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#84

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:42 PM UTC

Maximus9000 wrote: post #54

lmilcin wrote: post #10

Not to discourage, but even reforesting entire land that could possibly be covered in forest will not arrest climate change noticeably. The reason is because forest do not change CO2 levels noticeably, in the long run. The reason is because there is roughly constant amount of carbon in Earths biomass. Planting treas only increases the amonut of biomass by a little bit but has no lasting effect of scrubbing CO2 from a…

> "The reason is because forest do not change CO2 levels noticeably, in the long run" What does "in the long run" mean? Will it suck up carbon for the first 20 years while the tree is growing? 20 years would of borrowed time would be quite useful.

[deleted]

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#85

Post by whb07 » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:44 PM UTC

soperj wrote: post #76

whb07 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that the European powers of 17th and 18th centuries "exploited" the Americas to include the U.S and yet here stands the U.S head and shoulders above these "exploiters".

Do you actually believe that the US is head and shoulders above the Western European countries?

if we're talking geopolitically yes of course, if we're talking culturally yes of course. The other leaders at some point like Portugal, Netherlands, UK, Spain, all had their time in the sun. Now it is the U.S's, I'm not making the claim this will remain in perpetuity.

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#86

Post by yreg » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:46 PM UTC

beachy wrote: post #13

lmilcin wrote: post #10

Not to discourage, but even reforesting entire land that could possibly be covered in forest will not arrest climate change noticeably. The reason is because forest do not change CO2 levels noticeably, in the long run. The reason is because there is roughly constant amount of carbon in Earths biomass. Planting treas only increases the amonut of biomass by a little bit but has no lasting effect of scrubbing CO2 from a…

Timber buildings, furniture are possible targets for medium term sequestration of co2 via timber. More offbeat approaches might include modern giant pyramids built of timber, perhaps in the Australian outback. As long as they could be secured from fire and decay.

And cross-laminated timber could let us use wood even for bigger construction projects like skyscrapers and bridges.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-laminated_timber

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#87

Post by whb07 » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:47 PM UTC

zapita wrote: post #82

whb07 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that the European powers of 17th and 18th centuries "exploited" the Americas to include the U.S and yet here stands the U.S head and shoulders above these "exploiters".

That's because the U.S. was never decolonized. It just became an independent colonial state, where European settlers and their descendants continued to steal land, kill natives, and import slaves for another hundred years. That's how the U.S. came to stand "head and shoulders" above European nations: unlimited land and free labor, which yielded almost unlimited wealth, which was all acquired by Europeans. Today slave…

What. A simple counter point that breaks down everything you said would be the measurement of butter production in the northern states pre bellum (civil war) versus that of the southern states.

So no, nothing to do with "unlimited land and free labor".

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#88

Post by delecti » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:51 PM UTC

beachy wrote: post #17

bayesian_horse wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's easier to let them rot in place like it worked in the rainforests for millions of years?

Rotting releases their co2. All good when things are in balance - but they're not. To sequester the c02, you need to prevent rot.

If you cut down the trees and sequester the carbon elsewhere, you can sequester more, but just establishing new forests all over would still increase the amount of carbon cycling in those local ecosystems, and get it out of the atmosphere. Both is probably best.

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#89

Post by zapita » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:51 PM UTC

whb07 wrote: post #87

zapita wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because the U.S. was never decolonized. It just became an independent colonial state, where European settlers and their descendants continued to steal land, kill natives, and import slaves for another hundred years. That's how the U.S. came to stand "head and shoulders" above European nations: unlimited land and free labor, which yielded almost unlimited wealth, which was all acquired by Europeans. Today slave…

What. A simple counter point that breaks down everything you said would be the measurement of butter production in the northern states pre bellum (civil war) versus that of the southern states. So no, nothing to do with "unlimited land and free labor".

You're going to have to elaborate, I didn't understand your point at all.

I look forward to watching you attempt to demonstrate that appropriation of native land, and free labor from slavery, aren't the pillars on which most wealth in the US was built. I'm sure it will be entertaining.

Re: Ethiopia Plants 350M Trees in One Day to Combat Drought and Climate Change

#90

Post by jefflombardjr » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 1:53 PM UTC

mikece wrote: post #36

I'm not a botanist, but if they are experiencing drought then how will these newly planted trees survive? According to the article they are so low on water they are slashing output on their hydro-power system and ceasing electricity exports.

It is quite possible to change microclimates[0], even in a small area, and guess what, you change enough microclimates you change the climate in the whole area.

A great example of transforming large tracts of land is the UVM Jericho research forest in Vermont. It was farmed for nearly 150 years, its soil degraded to the point where it was sandy and barren. I've heard it described as a moonscape. After planting 70,000 trees [1] and letting nature do its thing, it now resembles an old growth forest. It's a prime example of nature's capacity to heal itself and is a source of hope for me in the context of climate change.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microclimate

1: https://www.uvm.edu/rsenr/jericho_research_forest_and_conser...