> There is no one single clever solution to the climate problem.
There is. Just stop emitting greenhouse gases.
A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
61–70 of 180 posts
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#62No, ending the extraction and burning of fossil fuels is how we fix climate change. Anything else is just buying time.
An honest question: if a technological solution were found that both solved climate change and allowed us to continue burning fossil fuels, would you accept it?
Well, if there's anything that the environmentalists hate more than petroleum, it is nuclear power. So there's the sticky wicket.
We have the solution in hand, but no will to embrace it.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#63That only "fixes" climate change as long as the trees continue growing and do not die. When dead, trees release their CO_2 that they've sequestered back into the atmosphere due to decomposition. Therefore, assuming those forests stay around, you've only delayed the problem by sinking a fixed amount of CO_2 away into the living biomass of the trees. The only way to make that a permanent sink would be to biochar the tr…
I thought about this and had an idea that I don't know if it can work, but I couldn't find any major problem with it.
Specifically, what if we start burying dead trees or those who reached peak mass in places where conditions will transform them into coal in 100(00..) of years?
That way carbon is captured and stored until we burn them again.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#64Since deforestation is one of the major contributors to climate change in the first place, this is kinda like saying 'the solution to climate change is to stop causing climate change'
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are there methods of tree farming that are focusing solely on carbon capture? For example, is it known that a species of plant that grows quickly captures carbon very efficiently?
I've heard this tree grows extremely fast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia_tomentosa
There is a lot of marketing and some "scammy" practices put in selling Paulownia trees. Eucaliptus is faster and many coniphers also.
You can find photos of trees regrowing light fast after being chopped, and from an old root but this is not how you measure accurately growth in a tree. The tree enters in emergency mode and is using all the reserves in the root to restore the lost canopy ASAP. It will slow down considerably in the following years.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the main purpose would be to avoid tree death. And even natural death of trees can be allowed considering that an oak lives around 150 years. Regarding what you say about releasing the co2 they have stored, keep in mind that the tree is not a co2 sponge. It takes co2 and transforms a big chunk of it in other carbon-based components useful to the tree. I recommend this article that clears some ideas about trees…
A sequoia sempervirens lives 1,500 years. I am not deluding myself that we will mitigate climate change by covering Earth in sequoia, but still that gives some timescale on how long trees can live. If we could mitigate climate change for another 1,500 years we would probably have found some other mitigations by then.
I do not see how the maximum age of the trees matters. There is no difference between 10 generations of trees that live for 150 years and one generation that lives for 1500 years. What matters is the amount of additional CO2 which can be bound in biomass per square kilometer (comapred to the biome we are replacing) and how many square kilometers which are available for this project.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the main purpose would be to avoid tree death. And even natural death of trees can be allowed considering that an oak lives around 150 years. Regarding what you say about releasing the co2 they have stored, keep in mind that the tree is not a co2 sponge. It takes co2 and transforms a big chunk of it in other carbon-based components useful to the tree. I recommend this article that clears some ideas about trees…
A sequoia sempervirens lives 1,500 years. I am not deluding myself that we will mitigate climate change by covering Earth in sequoia, but still that gives some timescale on how long trees can live. If we could mitigate climate change for another 1,500 years we would probably have found some other mitigations by then.
It's worth mentioning that sequoia along with a few other species are outliers as far as longevity. Most trees do not live nearly that long.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#68That only "fixes" climate change as long as the trees continue growing and do not die. When dead, trees release their CO_2 that they've sequestered back into the atmosphere due to decomposition. Therefore, assuming those forests stay around, you've only delayed the problem by sinking a fixed amount of CO_2 away into the living biomass of the trees. The only way to make that a permanent sink would be to biochar the tr…
That's basically, well, not true. When trees break down they contribute to soil organic matter. Approx 58% of SOM is carbon (SOC) making soil one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_organic_matter
Does soil continue to break down over time or does it permanently sequester into peat/coal/oil? As far as I knew, basically all of the tree's cellulose eventually gets released over time into CO_2 via biological activity.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#69That only "fixes" climate change as long as the trees continue growing and do not die. When dead, trees release their CO_2 that they've sequestered back into the atmosphere due to decomposition. Therefore, assuming those forests stay around, you've only delayed the problem by sinking a fixed amount of CO_2 away into the living biomass of the trees. The only way to make that a permanent sink would be to biochar the tr…
We can continue to plant trees until the end of time.
By end of time, I assume you mean entropic heat death of the universe. In which case no, planting trees will have become impossible trillions of human years previous to this, due to there not being and planets.
Re: A global reforestation project is how we fix climate change
#70The core assumption is that 3 billion out of a total of 4.7 billion acres of desert currently existing can be reforested by planting trees and irrigating them for 20 years, after which they will continue growing without irrigation.
Is this possible, except for marginal areas bordering the deserts? Aren't most desert areas desert because of very low precipitation?
This may be practical for areas such as the example in the article of the Kubuki Desert reforestation project, where desertification due to the encroachment of dunes can be thwarted. But the major deserts such as the Sahara, Gobi, or Arabian Empty Quarter have very low precipitation, below what is needed for grass, desert shrubs, cacti, etc.