Earlier quoted context omitted.
So about 65 trees needed per resident, that might still be doable? edit: nope, of course being a large tree it also needs a lot of land.
65?
fixed, ty!
Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
21–30 of 147 posts
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#22"[Each Sequoiadendron tree] can potentially pull an average of 85 kilograms of carbon out of the atmosphere per year". I will try to remind this phrase, specially the per year part.
Or about one air passenger trip to Europe. ("just plant trees" is not a viable solution to climate change unless you can plant a very large number of trees which live to maturity)
And you need to make sure that the wood doesn't have a chance to decompose after the tree dies.
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#23> We found that UK redwoods are well adapted to the UK and able to capture a large amount of carbon dioxide. Are the UK's giant sequoias predominately naturally-grown or human-planted? If the trees successfully adapt their reproduction cycle to the UK, then I imagine that they could become a new invasive (albeit easy-to-cull) species.
They are all planted by people, they cannot reproduce in the UK because they need wildfires and more sun.
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or about one air passenger trip to Europe. ("just plant trees" is not a viable solution to climate change unless you can plant a very large number of trees which live to maturity)
> unless you can plant a very large number of trees which live to maturity and what, then? When plants die, their matter is decomposed by fungi and all their carbon is released back into the atmosphere (unless the dead plant matter is buried). The act of planting trees, in itself, is carbon neutral. Not good, not bad, just irrelevant to the presence of carbon: the carbon is still in the cycle of life within the biosp…
I suppose we could do that too, down the line, if we plant trees now.
It's at least a method of buying time, but maybe not so reliable. It presumes no one will find a way to cut them down for profit later. So maybe we'd need to add each tree planted to a growing count of trees "never to be cut" in the country.
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#25BBC version of same article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623 > An estimated 500,000 trees are in the UK compared to 80,000 in California. > To assess how these towering giants are adapting to their UK home, scientists selected a sample of nearly 5,000 trees to study at Wakehurst, Benmore Botanic Garden in Argyllshire, Scotland and Havering Country Park in Essex. > However, while the trees are…
"the seeds only being able to grow successfully in full sun and in mineral-rich soils, free from competing vegetation. Although the seeds can germinate in moist needle humus in the spring, these seedlings will die as the duff dries in the summer. They therefore require periodic wildfire to clear competing vegetation and soil humus before successful regeneration can occur" (Wikipedia) They need fire and sun. (And mayb…
perhaps the seedlings can be cultivated manually then, until they can survive without intervention - then they should last a long time.
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#26BBC version of same article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623 > An estimated 500,000 trees are in the UK compared to 80,000 in California. > To assess how these towering giants are adapting to their UK home, scientists selected a sample of nearly 5,000 trees to study at Wakehurst, Benmore Botanic Garden in Argyllshire, Scotland and Havering Country Park in Essex. > However, while the trees are…
I hate when they do apples and oranges comparisons; it renders it almost useless:
"There are an estimated half a million redwoods in the UK... fewer than 80,000 giant sequoias remaining in their native California range."
generic redwoods in UK 500,000, specific giant sequoias in Calif 80,000. It does not say how many specific giant sequoias there are in the UK.
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#27There are pictures and locations of many at https://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/ . See also HN discussion of redwoodworld.co.uk at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28047458 . (Not affiliated, but I did submit details of my local sequoias).
It's missing my local one here in Surrey, where someone has one growing in their rather small front garden. Such a huge tree in such a small space - I wonder which one came first. Anyway, thanks for making me aware of this, I'll go and add it.
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#28I purchased some Giant Sequoia seeds last year and only germinated them this year. Only two survived but I’ve no idea if they’re doing well. If they do survive my plan is to plant them somewhere in the Scottish highlands.
I also have some Coastal Redwood and Dawn Redwood seeds but none of those germinated. I think I kept them in storage for too long. I might give them another shot.
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#29BBC version of same article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623 > An estimated 500,000 trees are in the UK compared to 80,000 in California. > To assess how these towering giants are adapting to their UK home, scientists selected a sample of nearly 5,000 trees to study at Wakehurst, Benmore Botanic Garden in Argyllshire, Scotland and Havering Country Park in Essex. > However, while the trees are…
Also, does this mean that all the 500k trees have been planted?
Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape
#30Now re-forest the whole Scottish Highlands please...