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Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

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Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#11

Post by m0zg »

cl0ckt0wer wrote: post #5

It doesn't look like they factored in the CO2 emissions from planting that many trees. The actual presentation: https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/23744 Under a business-as-usual climate scenario our model suggests that warming would drive the loss of ~55 gigatons of carbon from the upper soil horizons by 2050. This value is around 12–17 per cent of the expected anthropogenic emissions over this p…

Nor the emissions when those trees burn because they were planted in a place where waterbed can't support their density. This is happening in CA nearly every year.

Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#12

Post by hliyan »

ai_ia wrote: post #7

I wonder if desert soil can be gradually converted to make the land fertile. That would definitely be helpful to convert a lot of land to plant trees which is currently of no particular use. Any research or innovation on that front ?

Water would be a problem, although that could theoretically be solved with solar powered desalination.

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_greening

Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#13

Post by coob »

ai_ia wrote: post #7

I wonder if desert soil can be gradually converted to make the land fertile. That would definitely be helpful to convert a lot of land to plant trees which is currently of no particular use. Any research or innovation on that front ?

Yes

https://youtu.be/stc5MUIloP0

Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#15

Post by 0xfaded »

ai_ia wrote: post #7

I wonder if desert soil can be gradually converted to make the land fertile. That would definitely be helpful to convert a lot of land to plant trees which is currently of no particular use. Any research or innovation on that front ?

China tried it and it's not really working https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-North_Shelter_Forest_P....

Also looks like a similar project in Africa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall

Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#16

Post by michelpp »

ai_ia wrote: post #7

I wonder if desert soil can be gradually converted to make the land fertile. That would definitely be helpful to convert a lot of land to plant trees which is currently of no particular use. Any research or innovation on that front ?

The soil is generally fine, the limiting factor is water. In Central Oregon's "Lake County" near where I live, 10-20k years ago was dense forest and thousands of deep clear water lakes. It's all desert now except for the "Lost Forest" near Christmas Valley. A fascinating enclave of ancient trees that somehow survive in the middle of the desert due to what is suspected to be an unusually shallow ground water system.

Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#17

Post by strainer »

cl0ckt0wer wrote: post #5

It doesn't look like they factored in the CO2 emissions from planting that many trees. The actual presentation: https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/23744 Under a business-as-usual climate scenario our model suggests that warming would drive the loss of ~55 gigatons of carbon from the upper soil horizons by 2050. This value is around 12–17 per cent of the expected anthropogenic emissions over this p…

You have wildly mistaken the plain meaning of that statement. They declare their model suggests global warming will drive the loss of carbon from soils - not Trees, or aforestation programs.

Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#18

Post by JumpCrisscross »

m0zg wrote: post #11
cl0ckt0wer wrote: post #5

It doesn't look like they factored in the CO2 emissions from planting that many trees. The actual presentation: https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/23744 Under a business-as-usual climate scenario our model suggests that warming would drive the loss of ~55 gigatons of carbon from the upper soil horizons by 2050. This value is around 12–17 per cent of the expected anthropogenic emissions over this p…

Nor the emissions when those trees burn because they were planted in a place where waterbed can't support their density. This is happening in CA nearly every year.

> the emissions when those trees burn

We'd probably have to sequester them somewhere anaerobic. Bottom of a deep-sea trench or underground. Which also reduces the net carbon footprint of the activity.

Re: Planting 1.2T Trees Could Cancel Out a Decade of CO2 Emissions

#20

Post by nabla9 »

ai_ia wrote: post #7

I wonder if desert soil can be gradually converted to make the land fertile. That would definitely be helpful to convert a lot of land to plant trees which is currently of no particular use. Any research or innovation on that front ?

You need light, water, micro and macronutrients in right amounts.

Desert greening is essentially question of water availability and reversing soil erosion but you may also need the nutrients.

There have been many attempts in desert greening and oasification but they are expensive and have not been very successful in large scale. It's much easier to create a desert than do the opposite.

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